


Ever In Your Favor

by bansheequeen (queenbanshee), xtremeroswellian



Series: The Hunger Games [2]
Category: Smallville, The Hunger Games
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-14
Updated: 2020-05-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:33:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 12
Words: 34,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24172876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenbanshee/pseuds/bansheequeen, https://archiveofourown.org/users/xtremeroswellian/pseuds/xtremeroswellian
Summary: Sequel to the Hunger Games, Smallville AU.
Relationships: Oliver Queen/Chloe Sullivan
Series: The Hunger Games [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1744666
Kudos: 3





	1. Chapter 1

The red sun hadn’t risen yet. It was barely after dawn when Oliver made his way into the small house, being as quiet as he could and heading straight for the kitchen after pulling off his boots. He’d spent the entire night out hunting, as he did the majority of nights. It wasn’t something he really enjoyed. It never had been. But their survival dictated that be what he spent his time doing, and regardless of his lack of enjoyment, he always came back productive. He’d spent the last three years feeding most of the town, even though they didn’t realize it. 

He cleaned the rabbit, then the squirrel, making preparations to cook them later. He drew in a deep breath, heading back toward the door after wiping his hands off on an old towel. 

Chloe was already awake when he came in, she had been for a while doing what _she_ did most nights these days. Since their return from the Arena, she’d been drawing maps as well as she could and planning a way to bring down the towers. She had, with Clark’s help, dug a small hole under the kitchen table, where she kept all of the plans and schemes in the one led box they had been able to find, to avoid x-ray. 

She glanced up when she heard him, but turned back to her plans on the kitchen floor a moment later. He had been living with them now, for appearances, but if she didn’t have to talk to him, she wouldn’t. 

After they had returned to the district, they’d been greeted by fans and well-wishers. Anytime either of them had to go into town for any reason, the other went along so they could play the ‘happy couple.’ So far everyone had bought it--except for Clark and Lois, who obviously knew the truth, considering Chloe didn’t speak to him anytime they were at home. 

So Oliver avoided being home as much as possible. The woods were warmer than the house.

She found it much harder to focus when he was there, mostly because she sometimes felt like she should talk to him, but she knew it was pointless. He wasn’t going to give her straight answers, not really. 

Oliver reached for the door handle just as it turned from the other side and opened, revealing several familiar Kandorian guards. He took a step back involuntarily, heart beating a little quicker in his chest. “Can I help you?” he asked, his voice devoid of emotion, but loud enough for Chloe to hear him.

When she heard the door, she moved as quickly as possible to hide her paperwork and box under the table, and then she made her way over to her bedroom, taking time to mess up her hair and clothes enough so it would look like she had been just waking up as she approached the door. 

“General Zod is requesting your presence at the Capitol.” The guard told him. 

When Chloe heard the words, her stomach dropped and she stepped right next to Oliver, then appeared by the door, rubbing a hand over her face, “who is it, Ollie?”

His body was tense and he glanced at her briefly before turning his attention to the guards once more. “General Zod wants to see us,” he told her. He forced himself to take a breath. “May I ask what this is in regards to?” 

“It’s a private matter,” the guard told him, “he wants you there by the end of the day, so we will be flying you.” 

Chloe stilled. Flying. That meant no packing probably, or little packing. Which meant no weapons. “When are we supposed to leave?”

“You have five minutes,” the guard answered, turning his back to them. 

Oliver didn’t look at her. “Can we pack a bag, or no?” 

The guards exchanged a look and one of them shook his head, “you won’t need it.” 

“Well, I need to tell my cousin I’m leaving, how long will we be gone for?” Chloe asked, her heart beating faster.

“That’s uncertain at this point,” one of them replied. 

“Go ahead and tell Lois,” Oliver said softly. 

Chloe looked up at him and nodded slightly, before disappearing on the second small bedroom the house had, she knocked on the thin door but didn’t wait for a response before opening it. 

“Lois?” She called in the darkness. 

She stirred slightly, lifting her head from the pillow. “Chloe?” Her voice was full of sleep still.

“I’m leaving for the Capitol,” she whispered, placing a hand on Lois’ arm. “I don’t know when I’ll be back.”

Her eyebrows furrowed. “The Capitol? What’s going on?” 

“I don’t know, Zod wants to see us,” She told her as quietly as possible, “I don’t know how long it will be, but you need to stay safe.”

Lois sat up quickly in bed, staring at her with wide eyes. “No,” she whispered. “This isn’t right.”

“It’s not an optional trip, Lo,” She said quietly, “Oliver is coming too.”

She held her breath at that. “Because you’re the winning Tributes.” 

“Yeah,” she agreed, mostly to comfort her cousin. She really didn’t think this was some kind of celebration, not since her talk with Carter. But she hadn’t exactly told Lois about that. 

Lois hugged her tightly. “Be careful,” she whispered against her ear. “I love you.” 

Chloe hugged her just as tightly and nodded, closing her eyes for a moment, “I love you too. And stick with Clark, okay?” She whispered. 

“I will.” She pulled away to look at her, her eyes dark with fear.

She kissed her cheek softly then nodded, holding her gaze back before pulling away and starting back out of the bedroom. 

Oliver was tying the shoelaces on his boots when he heard Chloe coming back down the hallway. He glanced over at her warily, then rose to his feet once more. “Ready?” 

Chloe looked at him for a moment then nodded slightly, walking past him and picking up one of her coats, opening it more than needed as she wore it to show him the two knives she had on the side of it. She knew it was pointless since they had x-ray vision and were invincible, but she could try. “It might be cold while we fly.” 

His eyes widened a little at the sight of the weapons and he shook his head ever-so-slightly, blocking her from the view of the guards. “Yeah, probably. It’s cold here already.” 

“Exactly,” she said, staring up at him as she wrapped her coat tightly around herself.

“Don’t,” he mouthed, shaking his head again.

She stilled and sighed softly. She knew he had a point. They probably would be useless anyway. “I need boots,” she told him, before heading back to the empty bedroom.

He shut his eyes for a moment when he realized she’d given in, and rubbed a hand over his face. 

Chloe came back a moment later, the knives remained on the chair by the bed as she closed up her coat again, “are you ready?”

Oliver pursed his lips, meeting her gaze and nodding. “I’m ready.” At least as ready as he _could_ be.

She searched his eyes for a moment, then hesitated before holding a hand out to him. Even if she still didn’t appreciate the way he was doing things, there was a small comfort in going through this with someone she used to know.

He looked down at her hand for a moment, holding his breath before he reached out and slid his hand into hers, giving it a gentle squeeze.

Chloe nodded slightly then stared back to the door, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly before stepping outside, “we’re ready.”

* * * 

They arrived in the Capitol less than five minutes later and when the guard finally put him down on solid ground, Oliver dropped to it, throwing up everything he’d eaten in the last twenty-four hours--and it wasn’t much. His head was still spinning from the flight, and he pressed a hand to his mouth, nausea rolling over him.

Chloe was by his side instantly, her hand on his back. She didn’t even have to fake worry as she watched him get sick all over the crystal-like streets of the Capitol, “are you okay?” She asked quietly.

“As soon as the earth stops moving, I’ll be great,” he mumbled, stomach heaving again.

She winced and turned over to the guards, “can someone get him water?” She asked, not wanting them to just stare.

One of them rolled his eyes and flew off, returning a moment later with a bottle of water. 

To say she was surprised that it had worked was an understatement, she poured a little of it over Oliver’s neck to help with the nausea, “can you stand up?”

“Just give me a second,” he told her, shutting his eyes and trying not to throw up again.

Nodding, she took a step back and looked around. Everything was bright, clean, organized. But very... plain. In a lot of ways, it reminded her of Clark’s fortress. She supposed this must be similar to what Krypton must have looked like. Even though the stones were all found on Earth, they had found a way to make it look crystal-like. The Capitol was beautiful, and she would probably even appreciate it, if everything about it didn’t completely repulse her. 

After a long moment, Oliver slowly sat back on his heels, grimacing and then rising to his feet a little unsteadily. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and looked over to where Chloe was, checking out the sights of the Capitol. 

She turned back toward him when she felt him moving and stepped closer, holding out the water bottle, “do you want this?”

“Yeah. Thank you,” he said quietly, taking it from her and rinsing his mouth out before taking a drink.

“No problem,” she whispered, watching him closely.

He held her gaze for a moment, then reached his free hand out to her wordlessly, holding his breath. 

She looked down at their hands and nodded a little, wrapping her fingers around his. She had to behave as expected. For Lois’ safety.

* * * 

Oliver wasn’t surprised that they had heavily-armed escorts all the way into Zod’s mansion in the middle of the Capitol. Mentally he was taking notes about the place even as they walked down the long, darkened corridors, holding his breath most of the way. He had a terrible feeling that they just might not be leaving the mansion at all. And that was one of his worst nightmares.

She was feeling about the same. The place gave her the chills, and the very clear impression that humans were not welcomed. The symbol for Zod’s house was all over the place, on the uniforms and on the walls and she had, for a long time, equated it with death. She didn’t even realize how tight her grip was on Oliver’s hand until her own started to hurt. 

Without really thinking about it, he gently brushed his thumb over the back of her hand in a small attempt to reassure her, or at the very least, offer a little bit of comfort.

Chloe glanced over at him and held her breath as they approached the massive doors down the hallway, which two guards were already opening. 

Oliver held her gaze for a long moment as they walked the rest of the way down the hall and into the main room, which was huge and currently unoccupied. A throne set at the front of the room. It was huge and made with gold--or at least he assumed it was gold. For all he knew, Kandorians had their own line of precious materials and gemstones. Rubies and diamonds encrusted the top of it. To the side of the throne, there was a huge table covered in tons of food--fresh fruit, vegetables, various desserts. 

She knew the food was there, but she couldn’t take her eyes off of Zod himself. Everything about the man disgusted her, she wanted nothing more than to put one of her knives right through his head. Of course she knew it would be useless, he only _looked_ human and until the towers were down, there would be no killing him. 

“Welcome,” he told the two of them in what Chloe assumed was his pleasant voice, but it still made her skin crawl. 

Oliver drew in a deep breath and forced himself to offer the other man a small smile. “Thank you.” His jaw tightened a little but he knelt down, bowing his head.

Chloe had been staring at Zod, and didn’t move until she felt Oliver lowering himself. Her own jaw clenched as she got down to her knee as well. She hated being respectful to the man who had destroyed their planet, but at least she was glad he couldn’t read minds on top of everything else. She’d just have to keep pretending. 

“Thank you for joining me,” Zod greeted them, his eyes dark, a smirk on his face.

Like they’d had a choice. Oliver slowly rose to his feet once more. “You’re welcome.”

“Sit.” Zod invited but it was clearly an order. 

With her hand still in Oliver’s, Chloe walked over to the small bench-like seat and sat down. “May I ask why we were invited?” She asked politely. 

Oliver sat down beside her, gripping her hand tightly as they waited for the other man’s answer.

“You are an honor to have, of course.” He said, “both Victors.” 

He rubbed his thumb lightly over the back of her hand, even as his stomach tightened at the man’s words. “It’s an honor to be here, General.” 

“And you understand the lengths I went through to make sure this could happen?”

He nodded ever-so-slightly. “We’re very grateful for everything you’ve done.” 

“We are,” Chloe agreed, sitting up as she imagined stabbing Zod. 

“Good.” Zod stood up, “and you two certainly know the effect you had on our citizens...”

His grip tightened on Chloe’s hand once more and he looked up at Zod, unsure of whether he should rise to his feet, as well, or if Zod would view that as an act of aggression. “Yes, Sir.” 

“And in that case,” he approached them, “I was hoping you would be willing to return the favor.”

“How?” Chloe asked instantly, her jaw tight. 

Oliver was already not liking the sound of that, but maybe there was some way they could turn this into working in their own favor. Somehow. “What do you have in mind?” 

“You will only benefit even more than you already have,” Zod told them, “I will offer you a life at the Capitol, in exchange for something incredibly simple...”

Okay, that hadn’t been what he was expecting and he quickly glanced at Chloe, unable to hide his surprise.

She glanced at him too, her stomach tight as she looked back to Zod. This wasn’t good. 

“All I ask... is for your support.” Zod smiled.

He cocked his head to the side. “Support meaning...?” 

“Some of the districts haven’t been...” he paused, “cooperating as they should have.” He stepped closer, “you will _help_ with this situation.” 

Chloe’s eyes narrowed at that and her grip tightened around Oliver’s hand. 

“How do you want us to do that?” Oliver asked, not daring to glance at Chloe right then.

Her teeth were hurting. She was clenching her jaw so tightly as she stared at the man across from them, but she didn’t dare speak. 

“We will get to it,” Zod said, waving a hand, “for now, you two should make yourselves comfortable in your new home.”

“We’re going to be living here?” he questioned, raising his eyebrows.

“Just down the hallway,” he nodded, “you will be right at the center of everything.”

Well, that wasn’t good, he thought, chest tight. He forced himself to smile anyway and extended his hand toward the other man. “Well, thank you for your hospitality.” 

Chloe just stared. She knew what he was doing, keeping them close, within reach. Controlling them. But being at the Capitol just might work for their advantage. They would get to know the area better, and maybe even have access to the towers. 

Zod nodded but didn’t take Oliver’s hand, “the guards will show you the way.”

Oliver pulled his hand back, nodding, too and turning to look for the guards. 

After staring at the man for a moment longer, Chloe tugged on Oliver’s hand but kept her mouth shut as she started toward the waiting guard by the now open door.

He gave her hand a light squeeze as he walked alongside her, nodding politely at the guard and following the other man down the hall, his heart beating quickly in his chest.

The man led them down the hallway, stopping outside large double doors and pushing one of them open, he made room for them silently and when they entered the bedroom, he closed the door behind them. 

The room was huge, beautiful and the bed looked even more comfortable than the ones they had had at the hotel before the Games. One bed. But Chloe wasn’t worried about that, she was more worried about the fact that they would be under constant watch in this place.

Oliver looked around, too, then let go of her hand, rubbing both his hands over his face and moving toward the bed, sitting down on the edge of it as he realized how exhausted he felt. He looked up at her wordlessly, afraid to speak since the Kandorians had super hearing.

She didn’t say anything either, just pushed her lips together and shook her head. There were ears everywhere, literally and they didn’t need to speak to agree this wasn’t good.

He pursed his lips and gently patted the space on the bed right beside him.

With a deep breath she walked over to him and sat down, she’d been right about the bed being nice, too bad she knew she wasn’t going to be able to sleep.

Oliver turned his head to gaze at her, shaking his head a little, slowly. “I’m sorry,” he mouthed.

Chloe frowned and shook her head back at him. This wasn’t the time and it definitely wasn’t the place for that. “Are you feeling ill still?”

“Yeah, a little,” he said quietly, dropping his gaze. He felt sick for more reasons than one.

“You can lay down if you want to,” she offered, knowing he’d been up all night. She’d been up most of the night herself.

“You should, too,” he said, reaching down and untying his boots, slipping them off.

She glanced over at the bedroom door and she could tell it was locked. With a deep breath, she nodded a little and stood up, “I guess.” She agreed, shrugging off her coat, glad she had left the knives at home since there was no place to hide them.

He watched her for a moment, then rose to his feet, pulling the blankets on the bed back for them.

Chloe removed her boots then walked around the room, she was mostly looking for cameras, but she was also curious about what the two doors were. She opened one of them and wasn’t surprised to find a bathroom. In the second one, she found a closet that was divided in two: his and her side. “Oliver.”

He turned at the sound of her voice. “Yeah?” Drawing in a breath, he slowly moved over to her side.

“In case you want something more comfortable to wear,” she said, but swallowed hard. What she saw had nothing to do with comfortable or even clean clothes. They were Zod’s dolls and he was going to control every aspect of their lives while they were there.

He reached out and rested a hand lightly at the small of her back, his expression softening at her tone of voice. “Chloe.” 

She glanced over at him and shook her head a little, even though her eyes were wide. The longer they stayed there, the more trapped they’d be. And they couldn’t even talk now, plan or do anything without risking not only their lives, but Lois and Clark’s.

Wordlessly, he reached out and slid his arms around her, pulling her up against him and hugging her tightly.

Chloe stilled for a second then closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around him too. She had no idea why he still bothered with her, especially since she’d been doing everything she could to keep her distance from him. But the more selfish part of her that she was trying hard to ignore was glad that he was there with her. There was something annoyingly comforting about his arms around her.

He rubbed her back gently, resting his chin atop her head and keeping her close to him in an attempt to comfort her. And himself. Because he hadn’t anticipated this turn of events and now he had no idea what to do.


	2. Chapter 2

By the following morning, Chloe was surprised that she had actually managed to sleep and she was actually pretty comfortable. The only thing bothering her was her empty stomach. 

She shifted slightly and glanced over her shoulder, moving as little as possible. Oliver was there, his arm wrapped around her as his body was pressed against her back. She held her breath for a moment and let it out as she turned to look away from him again. No wonder she was so comfortable. 

He felt her move and he shifted, too, burying his face in her hair as he struggled to return to consciousness. When he finally opened his eyes, he was surprised that she hadn’t pulled away from him.

Chloe knew she should pull away, but she didn’t care enough to. She looked over at the door and sighed softly when she noticed it was still locked. No matter how beautiful this place was, or how comfortable, it was still a prison. 

“You sleep okay?” he asked softly, lifting his head to look down at her.

She stilled when he spoke, glancing over at him but not really turning her head, “yeah, you?”

“Yeah.” He drew in a breath and let it out slowly. 

“We’re still stuck here.” She murmured as quietly as possible. 

“I figured,” he said just as quietly, his arm tightening around her ever-so-slightly, an almost involuntary reaction to the truth of her words. More than anything, this whole thing had been about keeping her safe, and now there wasn’t a damn thing he could do to really do that. Instead, he’d made things worse.

She rubbed a hand over her face then turned around, to face him, hesitating before leaning closer and pressing her lips against his ear, “what are we going to do?” She asked quietly. This was the only way for them to communicate and it was still risky. 

He swallowed hard at the feel of her breath against his cheek and ear, holding his breath for a moment. “Whatever we have to do,” he murmured, acutely aware of her physical proximity to him.

Chloe sighed softly and shook her head, not pulling away, “we need a plan.” 

Oliver nodded ever-so-slightly, doing his best not to move. “I know.”

Pursing her lips together, she pulled away and laid back down, “do you think we can go see the rest of the Capitol?”

“I guess we’ll have to ask about that.” He chewed the inside of his cheek, shifting away from her and laying back down, too, staring up at the ceiling. 

Chloe shifted slightly and glanced at him then took a deep breath, “I think I’m going to shower.” She said quietly before sitting up. 

“All right.” He rubbed a hand over his face, sitting up, as well. “Save me some hot water,” he joked. God, he didn’t even know if he remembered what hot water _felt_ like. And he wasn’t sure they really even had it.

She paused, cocking her head at that, “hot water...” she murmured, “can’t promise anything.”

A smile tugged at his mouth. “I won’t hold it against you.” 

Chloe tried for a smile then nodded, before disappearing into the bathroom. 

He watched her go, then rubbed his hands over his face again, rising to his feet and moving over to the huge window that overlooked the city below. He had no idea what to do, or how to get them out of this. 

And there was no way to contact anyone for help. And even if there was a way, there was no one who had the kind of power it would take to stop the Kandorians. 

They were screwed.

* * * 

Oliver was more than a little surprised when they’d been allowed out to explore the Capitol. Especially without an escort. Though he supposed Zod knew there wasn’t much the two of them could accomplish considering how many Kandorians were around, and even if they weren’t specifically there leading him and Chloe around, he knew they were watching, at the very least. He hadn’t let his guard down, but there was something slightly relieving about being out in the open, among other people--including other humans, who were free to come and go as they pleased. The ones who for various reasons, supported the Kandorians, be it to have a better set of circumstances that included food and hot water and decent housing, or because they were too afraid to pretend they weren’t grateful. 

He squeezed Chloe’s hand a little as they found themselves in the midst of well-wishers and admirers while walking.

Although pretending to be a happy couple was tiring, pretending to be grateful for the chance they got thanks to Zod was even worse. Chloe had the feeling that the only reason she was managing was thanks to the fact that she had slept well, had had a hot shower and had had more food than she should that morning. If it wasn’t for the obvious difference in the buildings, and the red sun, she could almost pretend like they were back in Metropolis, walking around the city on a warm winter afternoon. 

She could pretty much ignore the people staring at them though, which made it easier to look relaxed even as she kept her eyes on the towers that turned their sun red.

“Pretty different from District Twelve these days, isn’t it?” he said quietly.

“Yeah,” She agreed in a whisper, “except for the sun.”

He drew in a breath, looking up at that comment, and nodding a little.

“I wonder how Lois and Clark are doing,” she said quietly, mostly because it was one of the few subjects they could talk about.

“They’re probably pretty worried about you right now,” he said just as quietly, not looking at her. 

“And you,” she said sincerely. Even if Clark and Oliver had barely exchanged two words since Oliver started staying with them for appearances, Lois and Oliver had always been good friends, especially after they broke up, once they were both over their feelings for each other. 

“Well, Lois might be. Clark’s probably hoping for my demise during our stay here,” he responded, voice flat as he shrugged. 

Chloe pursed her lips together and squeezed his hand, suddenly feeling a little guilty about not helping Oliver’s situation with Clark at all. 

“Maybe he’ll get his wish,” he said under his breath, staring up at the towers once more. 

“Hopefully he won’t,” she said, her jaw tightening. But in reality she knew it was more than likely that he would.

He glanced at her briefly, pursing his lips and taking a deep breath. “Let’s walk more.” 

With a deep breath, she nodded a little, “might as well tire ourselves.” She told him, they were used to very little sleep and a lot of work, so sitting around all of the previous day had nearly driven both of them insane. 

Oliver squeezed her hand lightly and they crossed the street to the opposite sidewalk. “Looks like there’s a park up ahead.” It was a few blocks away, but he didn’t mind the walk. Except that as they passed an alley, a hand unexpectedly reached out and grabbed his arm none-too-gently, yanking him toward it. “Hey, what--” he began, his eyes widening as he laid eyes on the familiar red-head staring at them intently. 

“Hello, Oliver,” Tess greeted calmly. She glanced at the other woman. “Chloe.”

Since their hands were linked, Chloe had no choice but to stumble backward as Oliver was pulled in, she was about to start yanking him away from their attacker when she realized who it was. Her eyes widened and she suddenly did wish she had one of her knives. At least _her_ she could kill. “You’re _alive_?” Chloe asked, almost an accusation. 

“As always, your powers of observation are astounding,” Tess answered with a faint smirk, looking up at Oliver. “Congratulations on a game well-played.” 

“I guess I was just hoping you’d have finally gotten what you deserved,” Chloe said, letting go of Oliver’s hand and stepping forward, “considering this is all _your_ fault.” She said tightly, her hands curling into fists. Maybe she didn’t need her knives.

“Chloe.” His voice was quiet, warning, and he reached out, laying his hand on her shoulder. 

“I’m aware,” Tess responded evenly, pulling something out of her coat pocket and holding it up. It was tiny, barely the size of a kernel of corn, and metallic. 

Her eyes narrowed instantly at the device Tess what holding, “what is that?” Chloe demanded a second later. 

“Keep your voice down,” she ordered quietly. “This will keep them from hearing your conversations, but only if you’re already being quiet to begin with.” 

Oliver narrowed his eyes, as well. “Where did you--” 

“It was your initial design. Don’t you recognize it?” She cocked her head to the side, staring at him. 

He did, but he didn’t really understand why she was helping them. “And you went ahead with it, even though the Kandorians are your heroes?” There was a hint of bitterness in his tone.

Chloe glanced over at Oliver, frowning then turned back to Tess, “what do you _want_? I’m sure you know we have plenty to deal with.”

“I want to _help_ you,” Tess said sharply, narrowing her eyes at them. “I’ve spent the last six months working to try and set things right. But there’s only so much I can do.” 

“Maybe it’s just too little too late, Tess.” She said, eyes narrowing right back.

“Fine. Turn down my help. Figure out a way to bring those towers down on your own without any kind of real inside information or assistance. We’ll see how far you get.” 

“Stop,” Oliver ordered quietly, looking between the two of them. “Let me see that.” He nodded toward the device she was holding.

Wordlessly, Tess placed it in the palm of his hand, then folded her arms across her chest. 

Chloe unconsciously mimicked the red-head’s posture but turned to look at the device Oliver had in his hand too, she didn’t trust that it did what Tess said it did, but if Oliver had been working on it before the other woman, maybe he could tell if it was working as intended. 

It was definitely like the one he’d been working with Vic on developing years ago, and he found himself looking around to see if they were being watched. As far as he could see, no one was paying any attention to them. He glanced at Chloe, then held it out to her.

She held his gaze for a moment then took the device, glancing at Tess then turning her attention back to the small object, studying it closely. “Do you think it’s really working?” She asked Oliver, looking up at him. They hadn’t been hunted down yet, but she needed more to be sure. 

He arched his eyebrows a little, and folded his arms across his chest. “Does General Zod know you’re a traitor?” he asked Tess. 

She pursed her lips, offering him a small smirk when no one showed up to question them at his statement. 

“I think it’s working,” he told Chloe.

Chloe couldn’t help but smirk at what Oliver had chosen to test the device with, nodding slightly, she shrugged but kept the device in her hand. “So what do you have?” She asked Tess, only mildly interested. 

“District 13, for one,” she said quietly, dropping her voice even more. 

“District 13?” Chloe echoed, “it’s been burned down. What about it?”

“It might have been burned down. But Lex Luthor never does anything halfway,” Tess said with a faint smirk. “They moved underground.” 

“Wait, Lex Luthor?” Oliver echoed, stomach knotting. 

“Now you expect us to believe he’s alive?” Chloe asked, smirking a little and glancing at Oliver then stopping at the look on his face. 

“You can believe whatever you want, Chloe. But Lex isn’t dead. The clone he designed of himself, however, met his end in a fiery explosion.” She smirked, too. She folded her arms across her chest once more. “Lex built some underground bunkers. And they’re lined with lead and he has a lot of shiny green Kryptonite stashed around.” 

“Assuming we believe you,” Chloe said, not trusting a word out of the woman’s mouth, “even if he had that kind of structure, why wouldn’t he have made an attempt to take over?”

She cocked her head. “He hasn’t. _Yet_. But we’re working on it.” 

“ _We_ ,” Chloe smirked, “so you are working for him again.”

“Well, he is my brother,” Tess informed her coldly. 

Oliver stared at her wide-eyed. “ _What?_ ”

“Your _brother_?” Chloe asked, shaking her head, “well, you being a Luthor certainly explains a lot.”

“Surprise,” she responded, staring intently at Oliver. 

“Well, that’s an understatement.” He glanced at Chloe sideways and then looked back at the red-head. “So assuming we believe you, and I’m not saying that we do, what exactly are we supposed to do with this information?” 

“There’s going to be an attack. In two days. Late at night when everyone’s sleeping. Be ready to move,” she warned, turning to head toward the street. 

“Move?” Chloe asked, arching her eyebrows, device still in hand, but Tess was gone. Rolling her eyes, she took a deep breath and turned back to Oliver. 

“Beats me,” he muttered, watching Tess disappear into the crowded streets before turning to look at Chloe once more. 

She watched him for a moment then arched her eyebrows, “what do you think?”

“I don’t know what to think,” Oliver said honestly, exhaling and shaking his head.

“We should talk about this when we’re back inside, if you are sure it will work.” She said quietly.

He nodded slightly. “It’ll be more efficient in enclosed spaces,” he murmured, hesitating a moment, then holding his hand out to her once more.

Chloe hesitated for a moment then hid the device in her bra, since she didn’t have pockets, then took a deep breath before reaching for his offered hand. 

His eyes widened as he watched her slide the tiny device into her bra and he gripped her hand tightly without thinking about it.

She frowned at the suddenly very tight grip on her hand and the look on his face, “are you okay?”

He blinked a couple of times, instantly loosening his hold on her hand. “Uh, yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.” He swallowed hard, looking away. “We should go.” 

“Yeah,” she agreed, arching her eyebrows then starting out of the alley Tess had pulled them into, but keeping her eyes on his face.

Oliver forced himself to take a deep breath and let it out slowly. “So what now?” 

“Do you wanna go back?” She asked, pursing her lips together, “or we could go for a long walk,” she told him, nodding toward the towers.

“We can walk,” he told her with a slight shrug.

“Okay,” she agreed, taking a deep breath and holding on to his hand tighter now.

“If you’d rather go back, that’s okay, too,” he whispered.

“No, we should go there,” she whispered back, looking up at him.

He turned his head, meeting her eyes for a moment and then nodding slightly. “Then let’s go.”

With a deep breath, she nodded a little and started toward the towers. They needed as much information as they could gather, especially if they weren’t going to be there very much longer.


	3. Chapter 3

It was dark outside by the time they returned to the mansion, greeted by the guards with suspicious looks but polite nods, which frankly, was more than surprising to Oliver, considering how much damage the Kandorians had caused over the last few years. For them to show any sign of respect to a human was almost unheard of, but maybe Zod had put them off limits-- at least for the time being. 

They ate dinner in relative quiet, and returned to their room, closing the door behind them. Oliver rubbed his hands over his face and turned to look at her, pursing his lips. He wanted to test it and make sure it was working before they had any real discussion about anything. 

Chloe didn’t need to be asked about it, she reached for the small device in her bra and rubbed her fingers over it, then placed it on her palm. It was so tiny, but she would recognize Vic’s work anywhere.

He chewed the inside of his cheek for a moment. “I was thinking it might be fun to have sex on the throne.” 

Chloe blinked, staring at him for a moment and wondering where he had come up with _that_ , but she was gonna go along with it, “do you think we can sneak in there?”

“Maybe.” He raised his eyebrows a little. When there was no sign of footsteps or anything to signal that they were being eavesdropped on, he relaxed a little.

“We should do it,” she said quietly, then glanced under the door to check for shadows.

“No arguments here,” he said without thinking.

“Do you think we’re okay?” She asked, taking a step closer.

Oliver nodded. “Yeah. I think we’d be in trouble right now if we weren’t.” 

“Good,” she breathed, “but we should still be close and far from the doors.”

“Agreed.” He gazed at her, taking a small step toward her.

Chloe reached for his arm and pulled him into the bathroom, her eyes on his.

He swallowed hard, eyes darting toward the bathroom and nodding ever-so-slightly. He held his breath as he let her lead him inside, then shut the door behind them and locked it. Not that locking it would do much good considering their enemies were super-powered and could breathe heavy and knock the door down.

She let go of his hand and turned on the water in the shower, then turned to face him again, pursing her lips together, “just in case.”

Nodding a little, he watched her carefully, licking his lips without thinking about it. “Right.”

“Are you okay?” She asked, frowning a little at the look on his face.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Oliver said quickly.

“Okay.” She took a deep breath, “do you think we can trust Tess?”

“I’m not sure,” he admitted. “Although if there’s really a plan in two days time, we may just need to sit tight and wait. If not, we can assume she’s not trustworthy.” 

“I guess so...” she agreed, “but if she does come, how can we be sure it will be any better than this?”

“We can’t,” he said quietly. “But how much worse could it really get?” 

“Do you really wanna go there?” She asked, frowning hard at him, “especially if Lex is involved.”

Oliver looked down at the floor for a long moment, unable to hold her gaze. What he wanted didn’t matter. All that mattered was keeping Chloe safe, and trying to put an end to the reign of terror the Kandorians had brought on. “If Lex is alive, that’s a good thing. And if he has a way to help end all this?” He shrugged a little. “I can’t say that’s not a good thing, too.” 

“Lex may be able to end all this, but he will still be thinking of only himself.” She pointed out, “who is to say he won’t take us all down to make sure he survives? Especially us, Oliver.”

“The difference is Lex isn’t super-powered. If he has the means to take these people down, I say we let him.” He held his breath for a moment. “If he tries anything, then we’ll deal with him.” 

Chloe considered that for a moment and chewed on her bottom lip then nodded, “you have a point.”

“Once in awhile,” he joked, rubbing the back of his neck.

She took a deep breath and straightened then nodded, “okay.” She told him, “so we will play nice for the next two days and if nothing happens, we’ll go back to planning.”

“Sounds good to me.” He rubbed a hand over his neck once more.

“Okay,” she breathed, then reached to shut off the water.

“Wait.” He reached out, catching her hand in his and forcing himself to take a deep breath, letting it out slowly.

Chloe paused, pulling her hand away from the faucet and turning to face him again, “what?”

His chest tightened a little and he held his breath, fingers still wound loosely around her wrist. He looked down at their hands for a long moment, then forced himself to meet her eyes. “I’m _sorry_ ,” he whispered.

She stilled at that and looked over at him, holding her breath but not saying anything. All she could do was shake her head a little, “don’t.”

His face fell and he swallowed hard, pulling his hand away from her silently.

“If anything, I should be apologizing to you.” She whispered, looking down.

“No, you shouldn’t,” he said without hesitation.

“Yes, I should.” She pushed, taking a step forward. “Even if I don’t agree with how you did things, you have kept us alive this far with your plan and on top of that, you have been helping us even before we knew you were around.” She never had thanked him for the food he’d been leaving them all these years and now that she had the feeling they wouldn’t make it much longer, she knew she had to.

“It was never my plan to...” He raked a hand through his hair. “For things to turn out like this. I got us into a mess.” 

“Yeah,” she agreed quietly, swallowing hard, “but you also got us out of our death sentences.”

A faint, humorless smile touched his mouth. He’d even managed to screw that up. “Yeah.” 

“I know I’ve been ungrateful about things,” she whispered, glancing at him, her chest tight, “I just don’t want you to think I don’t realize how much you’ve helped...” 

“I’ve made things more difficult. A _lot_ more difficult. I don’t expect you to be grateful for it, Chloe,” he said honestly, shaking his head and looking down once more.

“You helped me get back to twelve when I didn’t think I ever would,” she pointed out, looking up at him, “I did mean when I said you should be the one to go back. All I can do is plan, you can fight.”

“Chloe, when I volunteered for the Games, I wasn’t _planning_ on returning to twelve,” he admitted quietly. 

“You never did value yourself like you should.” She told him, watching him closely.

A hint of a smile graced his lips. “Coming from you, that’s a bit ironic,” he said, meeting her eyes once more.

Her chest tightened and she shook her head a little, “if we have any chance at this, you know as well as I do that you are going to be much more useful.”

“I can shoot arrows. But you can be taught the same thing.”

“You’re a leader.” She said simply.

“Once upon a time,” he said, shaking his head and sitting down on the edge of the bathtub. “But that was a long time ago. I’m not that guy anymore.” 

She hesitated and sat down next to him, “we might need you to find him again.”

He rested his elbows on his knees, staring down at his hands. “I’ll do my best,” he said softly. 

Chloe hesitated then placed a hand on his arm, “I can help, if you want me to.” They were stuck together anyway, and they obviously had a much stronger hold on the people if they were side by side.

He glanced at her hand on his arm, holding his breath again for a few seconds. “I think it’s going to take us both,” he said honestly.

“Maybe,” she agreed, “but you have always had a way with people, you can’t deny that. Even before the Games, with the interview....”

Oliver looked down once more, stomach tightening. “Well, that was easy,” he said very softly.

“Exactly,” she whispered, watching him closely.

“I don’t think you really understand why it was easy,” he whispered back, turning his head to gaze at her. 

Her stomach dropped at that and she shook her head slightly, “Oliver.”

“I know.” He looked down at his hands once more.

“There is no point pretending when it’s just us, anyway.” She told him, then stood up.

“I’m not pretending,” he said, not looking up. “It’s never been an act on my part.” 

Chloe turned back to him and swallowed hard, watching him for a moment then shutting the water. There was no point talking about this.

“That’s why it was so easy,” he said quietly. “Because it was all true.”

She closed her eyes for a moment then turned to look at him, “why were you hiding from us, then?”

“Why do you think?” he whispered, not looking at her. 

“Clark?” She asked, frowning. She sincerely had no idea why he kept to the woods, the house wasn’t much better, but it was something.

Clark had been part of the reason, but he was far from the _whole_ reason. He rose to his feet, shaking his head a little. “I wouldn’t have been any good to any of you the way I was.” 

“The way you were?” She asked, shaking her head in confusion.

“I was screwed up.” His chest was tight. He still _was_ screwed up. 

“We all were, Oliver... still are.” She whispered.

“Most of you didn’t commit cold-blooded murder, Chloe.” His voice was quiet, but flat.

“Lois and Clark haven’t,” she agreed.

“You were possessed. It’s not the same thing.” 

“I wasn’t at the arena,” she told him.

“The arena...is a whole different...thing.” He rubbed a hand over his face. “And you killed him to save _my_ life.” 

“It’s still a life, Oliver.” She shook her head, “And attempting to kill Lex wasn’t anymore about self-defense than this was.”

“Yeah, it was. I wanted him dead, Chloe. Because I hated him. It wasn’t about self-defense or justice. I just wanted him dead,” he admitted quietly. 

“Maybe it wasn’t for the right reasons at the time, but getting rid of Lex was something we all could benefit from.” She told him, then stepped closer and lowered her voice, “like the general.”

He drew in a breath, meeting her gaze and holding it, then nodding ever-so-slightly. 

“Okay,” she let out a breath then nodded slightly. She just had to get him to understand he could do this for now, because she had the feeling they would need as many people on their side as they could get.

“So we wait.” His voice was soft. “And hope that Tess was telling the truth.” He rose to his feet.

“It’s as good a plan as we’ve got,” she agreed, nodding slightly.

It was the _only_ plan they had, but he nodded, too, hesitating a moment and holding his arms open silently.

Chloe paused and looked up at him for a moment. Figuring he needed it, she stepped closer and wrapped her arms around him, holding him close.

He exhaled slowly, winding his arms around her tightly and closing his eyes. “We’ll figure this all out,” he murmured.

“Yeah,” she breathed and nodded slightly, “it will be better if we stick together.”

A sad smile touched his mouth. “It usually was, wasn’t it?” 

Her face fell a little and she nodded, resting her head against his chest, “yeah,” she whispered.

He rested his head atop hers, not letting her go. “Maybe we should remind ourselves of that in the future,” he joked.

“Assuming there is a future,” she said quietly, “but somehow, I don’t think we’d forget it as easily.”

“There will be,” he murmured, tightening his arms around her just a little. 

Chloe took a deep breath and turned her face into him a little more. She was scared, anyone in their right minds would be, but she’d really been hoping that they could make a difference at least, and end this before their time came. Now, trapped like this and depending on Lex and Tess of all people to get rid of Zod, it was even harder to remain hopeful.


	4. Chapter 4

Chloe had no idea what had happened, but she was running. Her back was burning like it was on fire and while at first she thought it was the red sun, that tended to burn hotter than the yellow sun, she soon found out it was not. 

Fire was coming from the sky, flying Kandorians setting everything on fire: trees, buildings, cars and... “Lois!” She screamed, but it was too late, “Lois! No!”

Oliver woke up to the feel of a sharp kick to his leg, and he blinked a few times, sitting up when he realized Chloe was thrashing in the bed beside him. He quickly reached out and flipped on the lamp next to the bed. “Chloe.” 

She instantly turned away, covering her face from the sudden light, “No!” She said out loud.

“Chloe, it’s all right,” he whispered, reaching out and laying a hand on her arm. “It’s okay.” 

With a gasp, she opened her eyes, blinking rapidly as she looked around and shook her head, “Lois.” She whispered.

“It was a bad dream,” he whispered back, shaking his head.

With a deep breath, she looked up at him and swallowed hard as she sat up and lifted a shaky hand through her hair.

“It’s okay,” he murmured, gently cupping her cheek in one hand. “Lois is fine.” 

“Are you sure?” She whispered back, her mouth dry.

“I’m sure.” He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Everything’s all right.” It wasn’t, but it was all right as it could be at that point. 

Chloe lifted her hand to his arm and wrapped her fingers around it firmly as she closed her eyes for just a second before opening them again when she saw a flash of Lois being burned alive again.

Oliver hesitated a moment, then laid down beside her once more, sliding an arm under her. “Come here,” he whispered.

She turned toward him without hesitation, shifting closer on the bed as she laid back down too and wrapped her arm around him, resting her head on his shoulder.

He wound his other arm around her, gently rubbing her back, wondering how often she had nightmares. 

“And you’re okay,” she whispered, turning her head up slightly but not lifting it.

“I’m fine,” he assured her, lifting his hand to her hair and stroking it gently. “Everything’s all right.” 

Sighing deeply, she nodded slightly and pressed her nose against his neck, but kept her eyes open, afraid of closing them again.

He rested his chin atop her head, letting out a slow breath. “I wish things were different,” he murmured.

She paused at that and nodded a little, “I can’t even imagine what they’d be like if they were anymore.”

“Me either,” he admitted, even though it wasn’t entirely true. He’d had plenty of dreams where the Kandorians had never taken over, where he’d struggled to make things right and make amends for the things he’d done, where he and Chloe were more than just friends. Hell, he wasn’t even sure he could claim they were _friends_ now.

“I miss Metropolis.” She said quietly. 

Oliver chewed the inside of his cheek. “I miss Star City.” His voice grew even quieter.

Her arm tightened around him and she nodded, “I even miss Smallville...”

“I miss the _rocks_ in Smallville,” he muttered.

With a sigh, she nodded slightly, “yeah. Me too.” And then she paused, lifting her head, then quickly reaching for the device Tess had given them over at the nightstand and turning to Oliver again.

He cocked his head a little to look at her, raising his eyebrows. 

“The former District 13,” she whispered, “it was partially located in North Kansas...”

He paused at that. “That could be why it still exists at all.” 

“Could be how Lex is keeping it there. He had storage of those things all over the place,” she murmured, her heart skipping a beat.

“Smart move on his part, considering.” He sat up a little, rubbing a hand over his face.

“If there is one thing he never lacked was intelligence,” she told him, watching Oliver, “but if what Tess said was true, and if this is true, we just might have a chance.”

It was a little scary to think that _Lex_ was their best hope at survival and freedom, but he’d take what he could get. “Yeah. Hopefully.” 

She didn’t like that idea anymore than he did, but considering the fact that Lex was, as far as they knew, only human still, it was a better alternative to Kandorians. Once the towers were down, they’d all be on even ground once more.

“Lesser of two evils, right?” He looked up at the ceiling, wondering where that placed _him_ on the scale of good and evil. 

“Something like that.” She agreed, nodding slightly. 

He drew in a breath and let it out slowly, nodding, too.

Chloe pursed her lips together and laid back down, glancing at him, “sorry I woke you up.”

“It’s okay,” he said softly, turning his head to look at her.

She pursed her lips together and nodded slightly, looking back at him. She was pretty sure she wasn’t gonna be able to go back to sleep. 

He gazed at her intently, lifting his hand to tuck some hair behind her ear silently.

“Wish I could go for a walk,” she admitted quietly. 

“I’m sorry,” he whispered.

“Not your fault,” she said sincerely, shrugging slightly and watching him. 

Except it was. It was his plan that had caused the Kandorians to bring them to the Capitol and away from District 12, where she could have gone for a walk at night had she wanted to. 

She sighed at the look on his face and turned to lay on her back, “if anything, I’m the one who got us in trouble, stop blaming yourself.”

He rolled his eyes. “How did _you_ get us in trouble?” 

“I didn’t keep my mouth shut as much as I should have,” she shrugged, “you were always diplomatic about the Kandorians, I never bothered hiding how much I hate all of this.” 

“That still didn’t wind us up being here, Chloe,” he said softly.

“Oliver.” She turned toward him again, “you don’t get this, do you?”

“Apparently not.” He turned his head to look at her once more, too. “So what am I missing?” 

“Zod needs to control us, he needs to control _me_ ,” she whispered, looking down, “everyone believed everything you said and did through all of this, but I have to step up my act and make them believe I did it because of my feelings for you, too.”

His chest tightened and he looked up at the ceiling, holding his breath for a moment. “Well, hopefully you won’t have to worry about it much longer.” He shrugged a little. “With any luck we’re going to be out of here in twenty-four hours.” 

Pursing her lips together, she took a deep breath, “Carter warned me. On the ride back.” She had kept this from him this long, she might as well be honest now that he was stuck there with her.

“Oh.” He simply nodded a little, not altogether surprised by that. He didn’t really _like_ the older man that much, but he had to admit the guy was smart. 

“He told me what I had to do,” she sighed deeply and shook her head, “I guess I didn’t do enough.”

“I’m not sure it was ever going to be enough,” he admitted quietly.

“Maybe,” she whispered. “I could have done more still.”

“There’s no use in asking what if’s,” he said, glancing over at her.

Chloe shrugged slightly then nodded, “I guess not.”

“So we’ll play the hand we’ve been dealt,” he murmured, looking up the ceiling once more. Because there wasn’t anything else they _could_ do.

She looked over at him, holding her breath for a moment then letting it out, “you should go back to sleep.”

“You should try to do the same,” he said softly, shifting once more so he was on his side facing her. “Don’t worry. I’ll keep the bad dreams away.” His voice was light and teasing.

Chloe tried for a smile then shook her head a little but remained quiet. Asleep or awake, they were stuck in a nightmare anyway.

“Come here,” he murmured again, gently pulling her closer to him and resting his hand on her back. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you. Okay?” 

“Yeah,” she breathed, wrapping her arm around him. She wasn’t worried about herself, she hadn’t been for a long time. Especially since she took Lois’ place. The way she saw it, she was lucky to have made it out of the Arena at all.

* * * 

He woke abruptly to the sound of explosions. And they sounded close by. He sat up quickly, glancing over at Chloe, who was doing the same, their eyes wide. “Do you think--” 

She was already awake, but had to sit up too, her own eyes wide as she nodded, “has to be.” She murmured, getting up from the bed just in time for the ground to shake with a much closer explosion. She barely managed to keep herself up by holding onto the bed.

His eyes widened even more and he quickly climbed out of bed, moving toward the window to look out. “Holy shit,” he whispered, staring at the explosions of glowing green masses all around. 

Chloe stared too, there was no doubt in her mind what the green was coming from, but staying close to the window wasn’t a good idea on their part. A moment later, they shattered and she barely managed to see the bomb hitting the opposite wing of the mansion before ducking away.

“Get down,” he told her, grabbing the comforter off the bed and moving toward her quickly. 

She tugged him onto the ground with her, her arms stinging with what she guessed were cuts, but they would be lucky to make it through the night.

Oliver gazed down at her in the darkness of the room, covering her body with his own as he held his breath, heart beating heavily in his chest. 

“It has to be them,” she whispered, she could feel the room getting warmer already. Surrounded by fire. And they were still locked in, with bars on the windows.

“Yeah. I think so,” he agreed. “Chloe.” His voice grew hushed. 

She turned toward him, holding her breath, “what?” She whispered.

“I meant what I said. I--” Before he could get the words out, the light fixture came crashing down, slamming into his back and his neck.

“Oliver!” She pushed the weight off him as well as she could, cupping his cheek, “Oliver!” She called again, her eyes tearing up slightly, her stomach turning with fear. She reached to check on his pulse but before she had the chance to, part of the wall itself came down over both of them and a strong green light had been the last thing she’d seen.


	5. Chapter 5

The next time she woke up, she felt a heavy weight over her ribs, she couldn’t really move them without feeling really sharp pain, she was unfocused and everything hurt. She tried calling out for Oliver, but her mouth was dry. Tried looking around for him, but it was too bright, too hard to keep her eyes open. Too much effort to stay awake. 

At some points, when she woke up, she’d been sure he was there. At others, she was sure she was dead. 

When neither the pain nor the drugs were as strong anymore and she actually woke up feeling more in control of her body, she took her time to look around the room. Unless hell looked like a hospital, which didn’t seem extremely likely, she wasn’t dead.

She noticed a glass of water next to her bed and just as she reached for it, she knew she was alive because the pain was almost unbearable. But she reached for it anyway. Nearly downing the entire glass in one long sip. After a deep breath, she finished it off slowly then turned toward the door. 

Once Chloe made sure it was all quiet, she pushed herself out of the bed and made her way toward the door as quickly as her ribs would allow her. If she was still trapped by the Kandorians, this might be her one chance to escape.

At that moment, the door opened and Clark’s eyes widened. “Chloe! You’re awake!” 

Chloe stilled completely at that, her eyes wide too, “Clark?” She gasped, “they got you too?”

He shook his head a little, wrapping his arms around her in a hug. “We’re safe,” he told her. 

She winced instantly when he touched her ribs then shook her head, “safe?”

“Sorry,” he whispered, loosening his grip instantly. “Come here.” He let go of her and reached down, taking her hand in his and gently tugging her out the door and toward the window.

Chloe blinked a couple of times and followed him, still feeling a little disoriented. 

He walked with her toward the window at the end of the hallway, and then pulled back the curtains wordlessly.

She paused, closing her eyes slightly at the bright light before opening them again slowly. It took her just a second to realize what Clark was showing her: the sun. It was bright and _yellow_ again, almost white really. But not red. Gasping quietly, she looked up at him, her eyes wide and teary both from the surprise and what it meant, but also from staring at the strong light, “are we dead?”

“No,” he assured her quickly, resting a hand on her shoulder. “We’re not dead.” 

“Lois and Oliver?” She asked, holding her breath. 

“They’re alive,” he told her with a soft smile.

She let out her breath and shook her head a little, overwhelmed by all this. She was sure she was still out, she had to be, “where?”

“District 13,” he told her quietly. 

Chloe blinked at that, suddenly remembering Tess, “it’s real,” she gasped.

He nodded a little. “Chloe, I hate to say this, but you’re really pale. We should probably get you back to bed.” 

“Later,” she said, with a shake of her head, “I need to see them, where are they?”

Clark sighed. “I’ll go get Lois, if you’ll get back to bed.” 

Her stomach dropped a little and she sighed too then nodded, “okay.” She agreed as she moved back to her bed. 

He smiled a little, following her down the hall to make sure she didn’t need any help, and then heading down to the waiting area where Lois was.

Sighing deeply as she got back on the bed, she tried not to obsess over the fact that Clark had promised Lois, but not Oliver. They didn’t get along and that was probably why he had chosen to get her cousin. At least she knew Oliver was alive. 

Lois entered the room a moment later, smiling brightly. “Oh thank God you’re finally awake!” 

Chloe smiled slightly at her cousin, wincing as she sat up again, “and you’re alive.”

“Thanks to you.” She moved forward toward the bed, sitting on the edge of it.

“What happened?” She asked, shaking her head slightly. “The towers...”

Lois pursed her lips. “Lex Luthor apparently isn’t dead like we all thought. He bombed the hell out of the capitol with the green glowy stuff.” 

“And now we’re in his district?” She asked, her stomach turning. 

“Yeah.” She drew in a breath and reached out, taking Chloe’s hand in hers. “But we’re all alive and the Kandorians don’t have any more power than the rest of us.” 

“And Zod?” She asked, pursing her lips together. 

“Whereabouts unknown,” she admitted, looking down.

Chloe sighed softly and nodded. Of course he would have been able to escape. She looked down at her lap and remained quiet for a moment, “and Oliver?”

“He was released yesterday,” she told her cousin. “He had a slight concussion and some cuts and bruises, but apparently you took the brunt of his weight when he fell on you. You have a couple broken ribs.” 

“Oh,” she breathed, nodding slightly. “Good.” She glanced at her cousin then looked back down, “where is he?”

“Oh. I don’t know,” Lois admitted, shaking her head and looking up at Chloe once more. “He was here for awhile after they released him.” 

With a deep breath, she nodded slightly, “but he’s safe, right?”

“Yeah, he’s fine.” 

Sighing softly, Chloe leaned back against her pillows, “when can I leave here?”

“When the doctor releases you,” Lois said firmly, arching her eyebrows.

“I can’t just sit here, Lois.” She told her, sighing.

“Well, you have to. Because I’m on guard duty.” She grinned. “Besides, we have catching up to do.”

Rubbing a hand over her face, Chloe nodded slightly and looked down. She was glad they were all alive, but if Zod was still alive and Lex was in charge, they were far from safe.

* * * 

Early the next morning, Oliver sat still and silent beside Chloe’s bed as she slept. He rubbed a hand over his face after a long few moments, his eyes tired, dark circles beneath them. When she began to stir, he hesitated and then reached out, resting his hand on her arm gently.

Chloe turned toward the hand slowly, looking down, her stomach tightening when she saw a male hand on her arm and she knew it was him. With a deep breath, she lifted her eyes to his face. Maybe he really was alive and okay too.

“Hey,” he whispered, offering her a soft smile.

Her face softened and she smiled slightly, “hey.”

“How are you feeling?” 

“Okay,” she whispered, studying him closely, “you?”

“Tired, but good.” He paused. “Did you see outside?” 

“Yeah,” she let out a deep breath, “it’s yellow again.”

“Finally,” he whispered.

“How are things here?” She whispered back, watching him closely. 

“More normal,” he told her, meeting her eyes. “More human.” 

“Safer?” She asked, but she had the feeling she knew the answer. 

He smiled faintly. “Well, the Kandorians don’t have their powers anymore, so...” He shrugged a little. 

“Right,” she let out a breath then looked away. Since she woke up, she had this feeling she couldn’t explain that something wasn’t right. That this was far from over. And the best she could figure out, was that she felt this way because Lex was now in charge. 

“Don’t worry,” he murmured. “The worst is over.” He gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

She turned to look at him and shook her head slightly, “do you really believe that?”

“Yes,” he said without hesitation.

Chloe let out a breath and nodded slightly, “what have you been doing?”

“Well, I just got released yesterday. So mostly just trying to figure out what to do next.” 

“Have you seen Lex yet?” She asked, arching her eyebrows. 

“No,” he said, shaking his head. 

“And Tess?” She asked, watching him once more.

“I haven’t seen her, either,” Oliver said honestly. He hoped she’d made it out of the Capitol safely.

“Where are you staying?” She knew it wasn’t with Clark and Lois, but she had no idea how this whole place worked either. 

“There’s a complex of apartments,” he told her. “They’re small, but...” He shrugged a little. “Big enough.” 

“And the food?” She asked.

“It’s rationed, but everyone gets enough to not be hungry.” He drew in a breath.

Chloe nodded, then paused for a moment, sitting up slightly before looking at him again. “Can we leave?” 

“Well, when the doctors release you, yeah.” He raised his eyebrows.

“I meant the district.” She told him.

“There’s a lot of fighting going on right now,” he admitted quietly. “So while it’s not impossible, it may not be safe, either.” 

“Between the Kandorians and us, you mean?”

“And other people,” he said with a soft sigh. “I don’t think restructuring the country’s going to be an easy task.” 

“Other people?” She frowned, “you mean because now we don’t have a leader?”

“Basically. And people are fighting over the resources that aren’t being guarded now. It’s not pretty.” 

“Amongst themselves?” She frowned, wincing as she sat up completely. 

He nodded, sighing softly and looking down at his hands. “Yeah.” 

“I guess I can’t blame them.” She sighed softly.

“No. They’re scared. Things are changing, and while it’s for the better, right now nothing is certain. They want to make sure they have enough of everything they need to make sure their families survive.” 

“What have they heard? Do you know?” She asked, knowing the Kandorians had pretty much controlled all of the communication humans received.

“Not really,” he admitted, looking up at her once more.

“I guess we need to figure that out.” She said quietly.

“Well, you need to rest,” he said just as quietly. “Until you’re back to one hundred percent again.” 

“I don’t need to stay here.” She pressed, feeling restless.

“The doctors disagree.” He gazed at her. “And after everything we’ve been through, I think you need to listen to them.” 

“Did you listen?” She asked, arching her eyebrows.

A small smile touched his mouth and he inclined his head a little, shrugging.

“Didn’t think so,” she said, pushing the covers from over her legs, “where can I find clothes?”

“Chloe, stop,” He said softly, shaking his head. “I wasn’t hurt as badly as you were.” 

“I can’t just sit here, Oliver. I need to find out what is going on.” She said tightly.

“And I’ll tell you what you want to know,” he responded. “And so will Lois and Clark. And when you’re well enough, then fine.” 

She wasn’t so sure about that. She couldn’t shake the feeling there was a lot all of them were keeping from her. Or were just not looking into enough.

“Please,” he whispered, gazing at her for a moment before looking down at his hands.

Her jaw tightened as she stared at him, considering him for a moment then letting out her breath, “come here.”

He paused, looking up at her once more, an uncertain expression on his face. Slowly he rose to his feet and hesitated before sitting down on the edge of her hospital bed.

She studied him for a moment then shifted closer and wrapped her arms around his neck, ignoring the tightness in her chest.

Oliver held his breath for a moment, then gently slid his arms around her, careful not to put any pressure on her ribs.

Swallowing hard, she turned her head and pressed her lips close to his ear, “is he watching?” She whispered incredibly quietly. She knew Lex. She knew how he worked and she knew that he wouldn’t save them for free. There was always a price.

He felt his stomach tighten, doing his best to ignore the hurt that came with the question. “It’s hard to say,” he murmured, resting his head against hers. “I think we’re okay here.” 

“He’ll come after you,” she whispered, turning her head slightly, her nose brushing against his cheek on accident.

“I know,” he admitted. And because of him, Lex would go after her, too. And Lois. But he wasn’t going to let that happen. “I’m not afraid of him.” 

“We need to stop him before he can.” She murmured, closing her eyes.

“It’s gonna be fine,” he assured her.

“We’ll see.” She said quietly, shifting closer to him, “you know what they need.”

“Who?” he whispered, having trouble thinking logically at her nearness.

“The people,” she said quietly, hoping he’d remember their talk about him leading.

“Oh.” He held his breath for a moment. “I’m not sure I’m the one they need.” In fact, he was pretty sure he was the exact opposite. If the world needed anyone, it was Clark.

“You are.” She said, opening her eyes again and looking up at him, “I told you.”

He couldn’t help but smile a little at the certainty in her voice. “I’m not saying I won’t try.” 

“That’s all you have to do,” she said sincerely. She knew once he opened his mouth, everyone would believe anything he said. Especially if they were desperate for a leader. And they already knew him, had been watching him for months on all the reruns the Capitol had been running. They knew his bravery and strength and they knew his feelings, which made him more _human_.

He lifted his hand to her cheek, gently cupping it in his palm for a moment before tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “You think?” His voice was soft. 

Pursing her lips together, she nodded slightly.

He held his breath for a moment and reluctantly dropped his hand from her face. “How are you feeling? Do you want a drink?” 

Chloe took a deep breath then leaned back against her pillows, “yeah.”

Nodding, he reached over to the small table beside her bed and picked up a glass of water. He held it out to her wordlessly, looking down at his hands.

“Thank you,” she whispered then let out a breath as she lifted the water to her lips.

“Welcome,” he said softly. 

Chloe drink the whole thing then reached to set the water back down, turning her attention back to him.

“Better?” He smiled a little, raising his eyebrows.

“A little,” she smiled slightly.

He relaxed at her smile, nodding. “You ready to rest a little more? Or...I could get you something to eat if you’re hungry.” 

Chloe looked at him for a moment, then looked down at that and shook her head. “It’s okay.”

“Are you sure?” His smile slipped, turning into a worried frown. “Because there’s plenty of food here and it’s been awhile...” 

“Lois fed me,” she nodded, shifting against the pillows. She didn’t know why, but she didn’t want him to leave her sight.

“Oh.” He relaxed again, nodding. “All right, that’s good. She didn’t tell me.” He drew in a breath and let it out slowly.

“You saw her?” She asked, arching her eyebrows.

“Yeah, out in the hallway earlier.” He shrugged.

“Is she okay?” She asked even though she had seen her cousin hours ago.

“Yeah, she seems okay. She seems better.” His chest tightened a little. 

“Better?” Chloe frowned, sitting up again.

“Well, you know. From before. When she was recovering pretty slowly?” He raised his eyebrows. 

“Right,” she breathed and nodded, “I guess it helps having food.”

“And less fear of...well. Everything.” He offered her a small smile.

“Right,” she nodded, even if she wasn’t convinced there was nothing to fear, “and you?”

“What about me?” 

“How are you?” She asked quietly, watching him, “really.”

Oliver gazed at her. “Well, now that you’ve woken up, I’m feeling pretty good,” he assured her.

Her chest tightened at that and she nodded slightly, “it’s good to see you’re okay too.”

He was quiet for a moment. “There’s a lot to do,” he said softly.

Chloe blinked at that, her stomach dropping, “are you leaving?”

“The district? No. But they’re going to need help getting things in order.” He looked down for a moment, then back up at her again.

“I thought you meant here, now,” she said quietly.

“Oh.” He held his breath for a few seconds, slowly shaking his head. “No. But soon, probably.” 

“What for?” She asked before she could stop herself.

He cocked his head to the side. “To get to work,” he said with a shrug.

“Work?” She asked, surprised. He did mention he had only been released a day ago.

“Yeah. Like I said, there’s a lot that needs done.” He was hedging. And he knew Chloe well enough to know she wasn’t going to quit asking questions anytime soon.

“I think,” she breathed, “you should wait for me.” It was the one shot she had at getting him to stay.

“Chloe.” His voice was soft. “Your injuries are a lot more extensive than mine. You have broken ribs.” He winced. “Sorry about that, by the way.” He looked down.

“Don’t apologize,” she said firmly, shaking her head, “you didn’t have anymore control over it than I did. But Oliver,” she said firmly, “you remember what we talked about.”

“Which part?” 

“About us sticking together,” she said, “and that being better for both of us.”

He smiled faintly, but it didn’t reach his eyes. The truth was that now that they were away from the Kandorians and the world wasn’t in nearly as much trouble as it had been only days before, she didn’t need him anymore, really. Especially not now with Clark having his powers back and Lois and Clark reuniting with her. He simply nodded a little.

“Then stay,” she whispered, her stomach tightening. She knew he wasn’t going to, she knew that whatever he was going to do, he was planning on doing it without her. And she didn’t understand why that scared her as much as it did, why she cared so much, but he had been there for her through this whole thing, she should, at the very least, do the same for him.

“All right.” His voice was quiet and he gave her arm a gentle squeeze before rising to his feet once more and moving back to the chair beside her bed.

Chloe blinked, surprised that he had agreed, but nodded slightly as she slowly laid back down against the bed. Now she just hoped he’d be there when she woke up.


	6. Chapter 6

It took three more days before she was finally release from the Hospital wing. She hadn’t seen Oliver since she had fallen asleep that day, and he had promised he was going to stay there. She hadn’t bothered asking Lois or Clark what was going on. 

She knew for sure now that Oliver had been keeping things from her and the less she made it obvious that she knew something was up, the less they would worry that she was going to go investigating now. But she didn’t want to waste anymore time. As soon as Lois was done showing her around, she was going to start her investigation. 

“So you and Clark are across the hall?” She asked as Lois showed her to her small apartment. Clearly Lex wasn’t buying her relationship with Oliver if she was assigned to a ‘single’. Now she just had to figure out what Oliver had told the other man.

“Yeah.” Lois nodded a little. “Though he spends a lot of time out and about.” 

“I guess we were locked up in that district for too long, without the sun. I can’t wait to look around too.” She said quietly.

“I understand,” she said honestly, glancing over at her cousin.

“What have you been doing?” She asked, taking a seat over at her bed. It was better than the last one, but somehow, she felt like she would never fully relax while she was there.

“Just helping where I can. Which...isn’t really a lot,” Lois admitted, plopping down beside her on the bed.

“Everything seems to be very systematic here,” she commented, keeping her voice as neutral as she could.

“Well, that’s definitely one way to describe it.” 

“Do you like it here?” She asked, shifting on the bed to watch Lois. She knew her cousin was likely to see right through her questions, but she needed more information.

Lois gave her a look. “Well, it beats dealing with the Kandorians, but let’s face it. Lex is in charge and that’s not going to lead to good things and we all know it.” 

“At least we have food here.” She said, arching her eyebrows and shaking her head slightly at her cousin.

“It’s not bugged,” Lois informed her with a shrug. “We check every morning.” 

Chloe blinked, then breathed. Between Clark’s hearing and x-ray vision, he was sure to pick up something if there was. She had forgotten how handy his powers could be, “good to know.”

She nodded a little. “So we need a plan.”

“And I assume you already started working on one.” It wasn’t a question. Chloe had a plan of her own, but it wasn’t going to involve Lois or Clark.

“Clark has, but he won’t tell me what it is.” She rolled her eyes.

“Do you have any idea what he’s planning?” She frowned.

“Not a clue. But I’ll figure it out.” 

“I have no doubt that if anyone can, it’s you.” She said quietly, trying for a smile.

Lois watched her for a moment. “You’re worried about Ollie.”

Arching her eyebrows, she shrugged a little, “I haven’t seen him in a couple of days.”

“I saw him yesterday, briefly, but I didn’t get a chance to talk to him,” she admitted.

“Was he okay?” Chloe asked, keeping her tone as casual as possible.

“I don’t know. I guess so.” Her voice was filled with uncertainty.

“You guess?” She frowned, the question leaving her lips before she could stop herself.

“Like I said, I didn’t get to actually talk to him.” 

“But you saw him and something didn’t seem right.” It wasn’t a question.

“I don’t know. He just...” Lois shrugged, not sure how to explain it.

“Lois, if we have any chances of getting out of here, we will need his help and for that, we need to know what is going on. What did you see?” She pressed, standing up.

“He was limping a little,” she admitted.

“You think someone beat him up?” She frowned. Even if he had gotten injured during the breakout, it had been minor and Oliver was not the type to not fight back.

“I don’t know.” Lois frowned at the suggestion.

“I guess we should find out, do you know where he’s staying?”

She cocked her head to the side. “His apartment’s upstairs.” 

“Okay,” she took a deep breath and nodded a little, “I’ll go see what I can find out.”

“All right.” She chewed her lower lip for a moment. “Good luck.” 

“Thanks.” Chloe looked at her cousin for a moment then paused. “Has Clark looked into his apartment too, to check for bugs?”

Lois looked down. “I don’t think so.” 

“I’ll be careful then.” She said before leaving the room, her stomach tight. Something definitely wasn’t right with Oliver.

* * * 

Oliver was laying face-down on the mattress in his bedroom when he heard the faint squeak of the front door being opened. Immediately, he lifted his head and then climbed to his feet, ignoring the various aches and pains from his body. He made his way toward the bedroom door, tense as he heard light footsteps. 

She didn’t call for him, in fact she did her best to be as quiet as possible. The doors there didn’t have locks, she guessed that helped in case Lex wanted to enter one of their rooms, but if Oliver wasn’t there, she would have the time to look around at least. And since the place was quiet, it looked like that was exactly what she was going to do.

He blinked a couple of times when Chloe stepped into his sight. Cocking his head, he drew in a breath. This wasn’t a confrontation he was ready to have, but he supposed he’d never _really_ be ready. “Chloe?” 

“Oliver?” She paused, turning toward him and holding her own breath. She had almost been hoping he wouldn’t be there too, “I was looking for you.”

“I figured. It was either that or your new life is going to consist of being a cat burglar.” He smirked a little, raising his eyebrows.

She didn’t smile, “well I didn’t think I needed permission to come into your apartment, all things considered.” She said, referring to the fact that everyone believed they were together.

He pursed his lips, then shrugged. “I don’t mind.” 

“Good,” she nodded, looking at him for a moment, then starting to look around slowly, looking for bugs.

“It’s clean,” he informed her, chewing the inside of his cheek.

Nodding slightly she turned to face him again then shrugged, “it won’t matter anyway.”

“Meaning?” He frowned.

“We’re going to ask for an apartment together.” She said simply.

Oliver blinked a couple of times, then shook his head. “Why?” 

“Because we need to stick together. You know that.”

He was silent for a moment, then he drew in a breath, looking away. “Look, it’s over. You don’t have to pretend anymore, Chloe. There’s no point to it.” 

“Yes, there is, Oliver.” She stepped closer to him, “you know there is, you agreed with me.”

“To get you to stay where you needed to be,” he responded, gazing at her intently.

“Wouldn’t be the first time you tricked me into one of your plans.” She said simply, “and I went along with everything. Now it’s your turn.”

He winced at the accusation and looked away, not responding.

She watched him for a moment, crossing her arms over her chest, “now I’ll talk to whoever I have to talk to, you start packing.”

“No.” His voice was calm, but firm.

Chloe arched her eyebrows, cocking her head to look at him.

He turned his gaze back to her once more, raising his eyebrows, as well. 

“What do you mean, no?” She asked, her eyes narrowing, “you have no _right_ to say no.”

“And why is that?” He folded his arms across his chest.

“Because of what I just said.” She frowned, “because we need to keep doing this, Oliver.”

“No, we really don’t. Chloe, don’t you get it? It’s over. The Kandorians aren’t in power anymore.” 

“But the people still need a leader, Oliver. They still need someone to look up to, someone they can trust.” She said, stepping forward and glaring up at him.

“Yeah, and they’re going to have one. The one that’s going out there every day saving their lives. Inspiring hope.” He didn’t waver under her glare.

“They already look up to you, Oliver!” She said, her hands curling into fists, “we already talked about this!”

“They’ll learn to look up to Big Blue instead,” he said flatly. “I changed my mind.” 

“No you didn’t,” she said, eyes narrowing more, “you’re lying.” She couldn’t be sure, she felt like she never really could completely read him.

“Yeah, I’m just trying to get under your skin,” Oliver replied, wryly.

“I don’t _care_ what you’re doing,” she told him, her jaw clenching, “Lex will be in charge and we both know that isn’t going to be any better than Zod and you _know_ Clark will not step up, Oliver. It’s not who he is.”

“Maybe he’ll just surprise you.” He pursed his lips. “Because it’s not who I am, either.” 

“Yes, it is.” She frowned, “you were already the leader Oliver.”

“That was years ago,” he reminded her. “People change.” 

“Yeah, I know,” she told him, “except you and I _talked_ about this. And last I checked, you _agreed_ with me. Whatever happened here is what changed and you’re lying about that too.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Nothing’s happened here, except both of us getting help for injuries we had because of the Kandorians.”

“And they will be nothing compared to what we will get from Lex.” She said tightly.

Oliver’s jaw tightened ever-so-slightly. “We’ll be fine.”

She smirked and arched her eyebrows, “sure we’ll be. When we’re dead.” She told him, “but fine, you have your plan, I have mine. Just remember I actually made an effort to do this the right way.”

“Sure,” he responded, shrugging a little.

Chloe stared at him for a moment then shook her head and made her way back to the door.

He shut his eyes, then rubbed a hand over his face. “Take care of yourself, Chloe.” 

“If you cared about my safety, you would listen to me.” She said without turning back to look at him as she made her way back out of the room, her stomach tight with both anger and fear.

If only things were really that simple, he thought, watching as she headed away from him.

* * * 

It had been a long time since he’d laid eyes on Chloe Sullivan. So when he spotted her wandering the grounds, he simply arched an eyebrow and told his guards to keep an eye on her but not approach her. After nearly an hour, he finally made his way toward her. “Well. It’s certainly been awhile since our last conversation, hasn’t it?” 

The shiver that ran up her spine when she heard his voice was unexpected, but she knew it shouldn’t have been. Lex had been the last person she’d want to see, mostly because she didn’t feel ready to face him yet. Not when she didn’t have a weapon on her to end this. 

Slowly, she turned to face him and nodded, “not nearly long enough.” She said, there was no point pretending she was happy to see him.

A smirk tugged at his mouth, but he smiled faintly instead. “Yet you’ve come looking for me.” 

“I was brought here,” she told him, “I’m sure you heard all about it.”

“I meant, specifically here, where I live,” he responded, cocking his head to study her.

“Is that what this is?” She arched her eyebrows, “I guess I expected something.... bigger.”

“Well, we have been under attack by an advanced society of aliens, Chloe.” There was a hint of chiding in his voice.

“Oh I’ve noticed,” she smirked, “one that your _sister_ initiated and from what I heard, she has your own research to thank for that achievement.”

“Ah, yes. Tess. Well, I suspect she’s learned her lesson about trusting those who have far more power than they should.” 

“I have no doubt that you will make sure that she did,” Chloe said. She didn’t even want to think about the things Lex was going to put Tess through, if he hadn’t already, but she really didn’t care. 

“What can I do for you, Chloe? What brings you to see me?” He smiled a bit more.

“A mistake, it seems.” She smiled back and shrugged, “still trying to find my way around this place, I ended up here somehow.” She lied.

Lex arched an eyebrow. “I see.” 

“And I’m sure you’re busy,” she said, glancing at the guards a few feet behind him. She would probably have to take down more than one of them to get to Lex.

“I usually am,” he acknowledged. “Still, if there’s something I can do for you, we are old friends.” He smirked faintly.

“Oh, I could never forget that, Lex.” She said, “everything you’ve done to my family and friends over the years...”

“That’s good. I suggest you keep that in mind, Chloe.” There was the barest hint of warning in his tone. 

“You have nothing to worry about, Lex.” She told him, “my memory is perfect.”

“Glad to hear it. I’m sure I’ll see you around.” He nodded very slightly at her before heading away.

Chloe took a deep breath and watched him go before turning away and heading in the opposite direction. She would need to be more careful about her exploration from now own. Especially with the way his guards were watching her.


	7. Chapter 7

It took three more days before she was finally release from the Hospital wing. She hadn’t seen Oliver since she had fallen asleep that day, and he had promised he was going to stay there. She hadn’t bothered asking Lois or Clark what was going on. 

She knew for sure now that Oliver had been keeping things from her and the less she made it obvious that she knew something was up, the less they would worry that she was going to go investigating now. But she didn’t want to waste anymore time. As soon as Lois was done showing her around, she was going to start her investigation. 

“So you and Clark are across the hall?” She asked as Lois showed her to her small apartment. Clearly Lex wasn’t buying her relationship with Oliver if she was assigned to a ‘single’. Now she just had to figure out what Oliver had told the other man.

“Yeah.” Lois nodded a little. “Though he spends a lot of time out and about.” 

“I guess we were locked up in that district for too long, without the sun. I can’t wait to look around too.” She said quietly.

“I understand,” she said honestly, glancing over at her cousin.

“What have you been doing?” She asked, taking a seat over at her bed. It was better than the last one, but somehow, she felt like she would never fully relax while she was there.

“Just helping where I can. Which...isn’t really a lot,” Lois admitted, plopping down beside her on the bed.

“Everything seems to be very systematic here,” she commented, keeping her voice as neutral as she could.

“Well, that’s definitely one way to describe it.” 

“Do you like it here?” She asked, shifting on the bed to watch Lois. She knew her cousin was likely to see right through her questions, but she needed more information.

Lois gave her a look. “Well, it beats dealing with the Kandorians, but let’s face it. Lex is in charge and that’s not going to lead to good things and we all know it.” 

“At least we have food here.” She said, arching her eyebrows and shaking her head slightly at her cousin.

“It’s not bugged,” Lois informed her with a shrug. “We check every morning.” 

Chloe blinked, then breathed. Between Clark’s hearing and x-ray vision, he was sure to pick up something if there was. She had forgotten how handy his powers could be, “good to know.”

She nodded a little. “So we need a plan.”

“And I assume you already started working on one.” It wasn’t a question. Chloe had a plan of her own, but it wasn’t going to involve Lois or Clark.

“Clark has, but he won’t tell me what it is.” She rolled her eyes.

“Do you have any idea what he’s planning?” She frowned.

“Not a clue. But I’ll figure it out.” 

“I have no doubt that if anyone can, it’s you.” She said quietly, trying for a smile.

Lois watched her for a moment. “You’re worried about Ollie.”

Arching her eyebrows, she shrugged a little, “I haven’t seen him in a couple of days.”

“I saw him yesterday, briefly, but I didn’t get a chance to talk to him,” she admitted.

“Was he okay?” Chloe asked, keeping her tone as casual as possible.

“I don’t know. I guess so.” Her voice was filled with uncertainty.

“You guess?” She frowned, the question leaving her lips before she could stop herself.

“Like I said, I didn’t get to actually talk to him.” 

“But you saw him and something didn’t seem right.” It wasn’t a question.

“I don’t know. He just...” Lois shrugged, not sure how to explain it.

“Lois, if we have any chances of getting out of here, we will need his help and for that, we need to know what is going on. What did you see?” She pressed, standing up.

“He was limping a little,” she admitted.

“You think someone beat him up?” She frowned. Even if he had gotten injured during the breakout, it had been minor and Oliver was not the type to not fight back.

“I don’t know.” Lois frowned at the suggestion.

“I guess we should find out, do you know where he’s staying?”

She cocked her head to the side. “His apartment’s upstairs.” 

“Okay,” she took a deep breath and nodded a little, “I’ll go see what I can find out.”

“All right.” She chewed her lower lip for a moment. “Good luck.” 

“Thanks.” Chloe looked at her cousin for a moment then paused. “Has Clark looked into his apartment too, to check for bugs?”

Lois looked down. “I don’t think so.” 

“I’ll be careful then.” She said before leaving the room, her stomach tight. Something definitely wasn’t right with Oliver.

* * * 

Oliver was laying face-down on the mattress in his bedroom when he heard the faint squeak of the front door being opened. Immediately, he lifted his head and then climbed to his feet, ignoring the various aches and pains from his body. He made his way toward the bedroom door, tense as he heard light footsteps. 

She didn’t call for him, in fact she did her best to be as quiet as possible. The doors there didn’t have locks, she guessed that helped in case Lex wanted to enter one of their rooms, but if Oliver wasn’t there, she would have the time to look around at least. And since the place was quiet, it looked like that was exactly what she was going to do.

He blinked a couple of times when Chloe stepped into his sight. Cocking his head, he drew in a breath. This wasn’t a confrontation he was ready to have, but he supposed he’d never _really_ be ready. “Chloe?” 

“Oliver?” She paused, turning toward him and holding her own breath. She had almost been hoping he wouldn’t be there too, “I was looking for you.”

“I figured. It was either that or your new life is going to consist of being a cat burglar.” He smirked a little, raising his eyebrows.

She didn’t smile, “well I didn’t think I needed permission to come into your apartment, all things considered.” She said, referring to the fact that everyone believed they were together.

He pursed his lips, then shrugged. “I don’t mind.” 

“Good,” she nodded, looking at him for a moment, then starting to look around slowly, looking for bugs.

“It’s clean,” he informed her, chewing the inside of his cheek.

Nodding slightly she turned to face him again then shrugged, “it won’t matter anyway.”

“Meaning?” He frowned.

“We’re going to ask for an apartment together.” She said simply.

Oliver blinked a couple of times, then shook his head. “Why?” 

“Because we need to stick together. You know that.”

He was silent for a moment, then he drew in a breath, looking away. “Look, it’s over. You don’t have to pretend anymore, Chloe. There’s no point to it.” 

“Yes, there is, Oliver.” She stepped closer to him, “you know there is, you agreed with me.”

“To get you to stay where you needed to be,” he responded, gazing at her intently.

“Wouldn’t be the first time you tricked me into one of your plans.” She said simply, “and I went along with everything. Now it’s your turn.”

He winced at the accusation and looked away, not responding.

She watched him for a moment, crossing her arms over her chest, “now I’ll talk to whoever I have to talk to, you start packing.”

“No.” His voice was calm, but firm.

Chloe arched her eyebrows, cocking her head to look at him.

He turned his gaze back to her once more, raising his eyebrows, as well. 

“What do you mean, no?” She asked, her eyes narrowing, “you have no _right_ to say no.”

“And why is that?” He folded his arms across his chest.

“Because of what I just said.” She frowned, “because we need to keep doing this, Oliver.”

“No, we really don’t. Chloe, don’t you get it? It’s over. The Kandorians aren’t in power anymore.” 

“But the people still need a leader, Oliver. They still need someone to look up to, someone they can trust.” She said, stepping forward and glaring up at him.

“Yeah, and they’re going to have one. The one that’s going out there every day saving their lives. Inspiring hope.” He didn’t waver under her glare.

“They already look up to you, Oliver!” She said, her hands curling into fists, “we already talked about this!”

“They’ll learn to look up to Big Blue instead,” he said flatly. “I changed my mind.” 

“No you didn’t,” she said, eyes narrowing more, “you’re lying.” She couldn’t be sure, she felt like she never really could completely read him.

“Yeah, I’m just trying to get under your skin,” Oliver replied, wryly.

“I don’t _care_ what you’re doing,” she told him, her jaw clenching, “Lex will be in charge and we both know that isn’t going to be any better than Zod and you _know_ Clark will not step up, Oliver. It’s not who he is.”

“Maybe he’ll just surprise you.” He pursed his lips. “Because it’s not who I am, either.” 

“Yes, it is.” She frowned, “you were already the leader Oliver.”

“That was years ago,” he reminded her. “People change.” 

“Yeah, I know,” she told him, “except you and I _talked_ about this. And last I checked, you _agreed_ with me. Whatever happened here is what changed and you’re lying about that too.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Nothing’s happened here, except both of us getting help for injuries we had because of the Kandorians.”

“And they will be nothing compared to what we will get from Lex.” She said tightly.

Oliver’s jaw tightened ever-so-slightly. “We’ll be fine.”

She smirked and arched her eyebrows, “sure we’ll be. When we’re dead.” She told him, “but fine, you have your plan, I have mine. Just remember I actually made an effort to do this the right way.”

“Sure,” he responded, shrugging a little.

Chloe stared at him for a moment then shook her head and made her way back to the door.

He shut his eyes, then rubbed a hand over his face. “Take care of yourself, Chloe.” 

“If you cared about my safety, you would listen to me.” She said without turning back to look at him as she made her way back out of the room, her stomach tight with both anger and fear.

If only things were really that simple, he thought, watching as she headed away from him.

* * * 

It had been a long time since he’d laid eyes on Chloe Sullivan. So when he spotted her wandering the grounds, he simply arched an eyebrow and told his guards to keep an eye on her but not approach her. After nearly an hour, he finally made his way toward her. “Well. It’s certainly been awhile since our last conversation, hasn’t it?” 

The shiver that ran up her spine when she heard his voice was unexpected, but she knew it shouldn’t have been. Lex had been the last person she’d want to see, mostly because she didn’t feel ready to face him yet. Not when she didn’t have a weapon on her to end this. 

Slowly, she turned to face him and nodded, “not nearly long enough.” She said, there was no point pretending she was happy to see him.

A smirk tugged at his mouth, but he smiled faintly instead. “Yet you’ve come looking for me.” 

“I was brought here,” she told him, “I’m sure you heard all about it.”

“I meant, specifically here, where I live,” he responded, cocking his head to study her.

“Is that what this is?” She arched her eyebrows, “I guess I expected something.... bigger.”

“Well, we have been under attack by an advanced society of aliens, Chloe.” There was a hint of chiding in his voice.

“Oh I’ve noticed,” she smirked, “one that your _sister_ initiated and from what I heard, she has your own research to thank for that achievement.”

“Ah, yes. Tess. Well, I suspect she’s learned her lesson about trusting those who have far more power than they should.” 

“I have no doubt that you will make sure that she did,” Chloe said. She didn’t even want to think about the things Lex was going to put Tess through, if he hadn’t already, but she really didn’t care. 

“What can I do for you, Chloe? What brings you to see me?” He smiled a bit more.

“A mistake, it seems.” She smiled back and shrugged, “still trying to find my way around this place, I ended up here somehow.” She lied.

Lex arched an eyebrow. “I see.” 

“And I’m sure you’re busy,” she said, glancing at the guards a few feet behind him. She would probably have to take down more than one of them to get to Lex.

“I usually am,” he acknowledged. “Still, if there’s something I can do for you, we are old friends.” He smirked faintly.

“Oh, I could never forget that, Lex.” She said, “everything you’ve done to my family and friends over the years...”

“That’s good. I suggest you keep that in mind, Chloe.” There was the barest hint of warning in his tone. 

“You have nothing to worry about, Lex.” She told him, “my memory is perfect.”

“Glad to hear it. I’m sure I’ll see you around.” He nodded very slightly at her before heading away.

Chloe took a deep breath and watched him go before turning away and heading in the opposite direction. She would need to be more careful about her exploration from now own. Especially with the way his guards were watching her.


	8. Chapter 8

Everything hurt. His body felt like it was on fire as someone picked him up, and they moved in a blur so he figured either it was Clark, Bart, or one of the Kandorians had found him, regained their powers, and were going to finish what Lex had started. He just hoped they did it faster than Lex. 

Moments later, he felt himself throw up from the rapid movement and he groaned painfully, laying his head down on the hard floor when whoever it was set him down. Within seconds, he’d passed out completely.

“Oh my God,” Lois whispered, eyes wide with horror as she moved toward his prone body on the floor of the burned-out cabin.

“Oliver?” Chloe gasped, glancing at Bart, who had stayed behind with Oliver while Clark went back to get her and Lois. He had told her it wasn’t good but she hadn’t imagine it’d be this bad. His face was barely recognizable, covered with blood and bruises.

“That son of a bitch,” Bart whispered, body tense.

“X-ray him,” Chloe told Clark as she knelt down on the ground beside Oliver, pulling her backpack from her back to the floor and reaching inside of it, “tell me where the deepest cuts are.”

Clark drew in a breath and nodded a little, wincing involuntarily at the amount of injuries covering the older man’s body. “His back looks like it got the worst of it. And he’s got a couple broken ribs.” 

“I still have some of the stuff they sent us during the arena, it will heal him faster,” Chloe said, glancing at Bart, “help me get him on his stomach.”

He nodded quickly, moving to one side of Oliver and helping her gently turn him so he was lying on his stomach. The blood had literally soaked through the back of Oliver’s shirt and he swallowed hard, feeling sick.

“We need to get rid of this,” Chloe whispered about his shirt, her own stomach turning at the sight. 

“Here,” Clark said, ripping the material apart easily and wincing when he saw the other man’s back.

“Oh, Ollie,” Lois whispered, covering her mouth with one hand, tears prickling at her eyes. 

“We need bandages,” Chloe said, “see if you guys can find any, as clean as possible.” She said tightly, “and water to clean the wounds.”

“I’ll go see what I can find,” Bart said without hesitation, rising to his feet and disappearing. 

Lois climbed to her feet, as well. “I’ll check around the district.”

“I’ll stay with him,” Chloe said quietly, sitting back on her feet and watching Oliver. 

Clark glanced at Lois then nodded, “I’ll go find water.” He said before vanishing as well.

A groan escaped Oliver’s mouth, but he didn’t make any effort to lift his head. 

“Don’t try to move,” she whispered, afraid of touching him and causing him even more pain, but since his hand seems to be in one piece, she pressed her fingers gently to the back of it, “you’re safe.”

“Will this help?” Bart asked, returning a second later with a bag full of bandages, and a couple bottles of peroxide and alcohol.

“Yes,” Chloe said, sitting up, her eyes widening, “where did you find this?”

“District Four,” he told her, raising his eyebrows a little as he held them out to her.

Nodding, she picked up one of the bottles and with a piece of the bandages, started to gently clean the cuts on his back, it looked like he’d been whipped and kicked, but everything was so covered in blood, it was hard to tell, “are we safe here?” She asked, mostly to distract herself.

“I’ll keep watch,” Bart promised, moving toward the door. He couldn’t handle watching her work on Ollie’s back.

“Thank you,” she sighed softly, so much for a distraction. So she focused on what she was doing, ignoring just how quickly the bandages were turning red.

Bart rocked back and forth on his heels anxiously, eyes darting around. “Where are we? What district is this?” 

“Twelve,” she said quietly, “what is left of it.”

“Your district.” He glanced over his shoulder at her, wincing. “Sorry.”

“They burned it down the night before the attack at the Capitol, Lois and Clark almost didn’t make it out.”

“The Kandorians burned it down?” 

“That’s what we heard,” Chloe nodded, “it was already dark, impossible to tell from the ground.”

“So it might not have been them at all.” Bart turned to look at her.

“Considering the timing of the attacks,” she shook her head, “It might not. Twelve is on the way to the Capitol from Thirteen. They could have bombed it.”

He grimaced, rubbing a hand over his face. “And we know Lex is capable of it. More than capable.” 

“Exactly.” She told him, “I guess now that we’re here, we can look for evidence.”

“He has to be stopped.” 

“We will stop him,” she paused, glancing at Bart, “even if just the two of us go find him.”

“Agreed,” Bart said without hesitation. 

“Good,” she let out a breath, turning back to Oliver’s back.

“When Clark gets back, one of us should go look for a safer, cleaner place to stay for now,” Bart suggested, glancing worriedly at Oliver. 

“Yeah,” she agreed, “but we shouldn’t leave the district, no one will expect us here.”

Bart nodded. “Hopefully there’s someplace around here that isn’t too damaged.” 

“We’ll find something,” she told him, “and Oliver will be okay.”

He didn’t look convinced about that last part, but he nodded a little and turned back to the door once again.

She remained silent as she finished cleaning Oliver’s back as much as she could, then with Bart’s help, she wrapped the bandage around his ribs to keep them from getting worse. “I think that’s all we can do for now.”

“I guess so,” he agreed quietly, wincing as he looked down at his friend. 

Chloe looked at Oliver’s face and gently begun to clean the cuts there too, “when we find a safer place,” she said quietly, “maybe you can go to the capitol for more of that ointment they sent us, they might have some sort of supply there.”

Bart nodded a little. “He looks awful,” he murmured. 

“Don’t let him hear that,” she said quietly, trying for a joke but not really succeeding.

He managed a faint smile anyway, just for her effort as he looked over at her. “Must be hard for you to see him like this.” His voice grew even more quiet.

“No harder than it is for you,” she said, glancing at him and frowning slightly in confusion.

Bart raised his eyebrows a little. “Are you sure?” 

“What are you talking-- oh.” She stilled, realizing then that he had watched the games, but he had had no contact with them at all otherwise, “Bart...” she said, but stopped, not sure how to continue.

“It’s okay. I mean deep down I knew I never _really_ had a shot with you and if anyone’s worthy, I mean...” He glanced down at Oliver’s still form, pursing his lips.

“That’s not what I mean,” she told him, taking a deep breath, “Oliver and I weren’t really together...”

He cocked his head, looking at her in confusion. 

She looked down at Oliver and shrugged, “that was just something he came up with, to stay alive.”

His eyebrows shot up. “You really believe that?” 

Chloe frowned at that, turning to look at Bart.

He shook his head a little. “Maybe this isn’t my place,” he said hesitantly.

“No,” she told him, “what are you talking about?”

Looking uncertain, he sat back a little. “He’s sorta had feelings for you for awhile,” he told her. 

“Oliver?” She said, shaking her head a little.

“Yeah.” He drew in a breath. “It’s why he almost didn’t show up to your wedding,” he admitted. “Threw himself into that whole finding Lex thing.” He shrugged.

She watched him, her face falling, her stomach tightening, “all that time?”

Bart nodded a little, uncomfortable. “I figured that’s why he volunteered for the Games,” he said quietly. “You know, to protect you.” 

“But if that was true,” she said, shaking her head, “why would he not want to get out? I told him we needed to stick together and he told me he was done...”

“I don’t know,” he admitted, shaking his head, too. “But I have a feeling there’s a lot we don’t know.”

“Maybe you will have better luck when he wakes up,” she whispered, looking down.

“Maybe,” he said just as quietly, looking down, too. 

He just hoped Oliver really _would_ wake up.

* * *

She couldn’t stop thinking about what Bart had told her, about everything Oliver had told her in the past few months. She had managed to write it all off after Oliver pretty much told her to leave him alone, to allow herself to believe he had just pretended everything all along to get away from everything. 

On top of that, she couldn’t stop staring at Oliver to make sure he was breathing, which was when Lois suggested she should go for a walk, for a while. 

Chloe did, mostly because she knew she was just freaking herself out, but seeing the destruction around the District wasn’t any better, especially since she was fairly sure this had been caused by explosives, not plain fire like the Kandorians would have shot from their eyes.

She didn’t know how long she’d been walking, when she felt something. Like eyes on her. Her stomach dropped and she reached for her knives, one in each hand, then turned around, searching.

“Glad to see you’re still alive,” Carter greeted her, nodding ever-so-slightly.

Blinking, she turned to face him, her eyes widening and then she stilled, “Carter?” She frowned, not putting her knives away, “what are you doing here?”

“Never left here,” he admitted with a slight shrug. 

“How did you survive the explosions?” She asked, eyes narrowing.

“Dumb luck,” he said gruffly. “The house I live in had a basement. I built it. Just in case.” 

“Lucky you,” she said, arching her eyebrows.

“You still don’t trust me, do you?” There was a hint of amusement in his eyes.

“Of course not.” She told him, shaking her head, “where have you been?”

“Here.” He motioned toward his house. “I haven’t gone anywhere.”

“You said that already,” she told him, “did you know the Kandorians took us to the Capitol?” She asked, “and that Lex Luthor blew it up? Probably right after he blew up District twelve.”

“Not surprising, considering Lex’s history.” He folded his arms across his chest. 

“And you’re very familiar with that too?” She asked, not surprised since he knew about her and Oliver and their identities.

“Oliver filled me in,” he said with a slight shrug.

“Of course he did,” she frowned, annoyed at first, because it was her instinct then shaking her head when she remembered how Oliver looked at the moment.

“Well, unlike you, Oliver trusts me, and knew I was doing what I could to help the two of you,” he informed her.

“You never trusted me either,” she told him, putting her knives away.

Carter arched his eyebrows. “You don’t think so?”

“Of course you didn’t,” she told him, “when did you ever tell me anything, Carter?”

“Fair enough,” he conceded, watching her. “You were an unknown as far as I was concerned. Still are, truthfully.” 

“Ditto,” she said, studying him back.

He smiled faintly at that. “How is Oliver?” 

Chloe’s jaw clenched a little and she shook her head, “not well.”

Frowning, he cocked his head to the side. “Meaning...?” 

“Lex tortured him, I don’t know for how long. He’s not waking up.” She said, glancing back at him.

His expression changed to one of concern. “I have some medical supplies and food in my basement if that would help at all.” 

“Do you have anything as powerful as what you sent us during the arena?” She asked, holding her breath.

“I may have something,” he told her with a slight nod, heading in the direction of his house.

Chloe didn’t hesitate before following him, “if you know where they keep those at the Capitol, I have someone who can get there.” 

Carter nodded. “That’s definitely something I can help with.” 

“Good,” she nodded, “we found a house near the market, it’s mostly in one piece, we’re staying there.” 

“All right. I’ll grab some things and meet you there,” he offered.

“I can come help,” she said, pursing her lips together, “I was told I had to get out of there for a while anyway,” she muttered. She really didn’t want to get back without being able to do more for him.

“All right.” Carter nodded a little and led the way into his house, opening the door to his basement and descending the steps. 

Chloe followed, her heart beating faster, his house seemed a lot cleaner, even than the one where they were, but they were closer to the small river that cut through the city, so she wasn’t sure which might be the best option for Oliver.

Carter began to gather supplies in a bag, turning to glance at her. “Do you have plenty of food available?” 

“Not yet, I’ll go into the forest later,” she told him, stepping closer to take everything from him.

“If you’d like to stay with Oliver, I’d be happy to go hunting.” 

She looked over at him for a moment and nodded a little, “I guess it depends on how he is.”

“Fair enough,” he agreed, gathering a few more things.

She took one of the bags he had packed, “just get the basics now, we’ll come back for whatever you think we will need later. I don’t want to waste anymore time.”

“All right. Let’s go,” he agreed.

Chloe looked at him for a moment then started out the door, “do you think we’re safe here?” She asked as they started down the road. 

“From the Kandorians or from Lex Luthor?” he asked, glancing at her sideways as they walked.

“I think Lex is a much bigger threat right now.” She said, her jaw tight. 

“I agree with that,” he admitted, letting out a breath.

Her stomach dropped, “so you don’t think we’re safe?” 

“I think we’re as safe as we can be under the circumstances.” 

“I guess we will need to move as soon as he gets better.” She said quietly, her eyes on the ground. Not entirely convinced he would get better.

“Probably a good idea.”

“Are you going to stay here?” She asked, glancing at him this time. 

“I’m not doing anyone much good here,” he told her with a slight shrug.

She took a deep breath, “I want Oliver to step up,” she said, “as a leader.” 

Carter nodded, a little. “That would make sense, considering how popular he is in the districts.” He paused. “You both are.” 

“I won’t do any good without him.” She said with a shrug. 

“No, you’ll need to present a united front,” he agreed.

“Yeah.” She agreed, “that’s what I told him.”

“He disagreed?” He frowned a little.

“At first, no.” She glanced over at him again, “but then he changed his mind. Told me he was done.” 

Carter cocked his head to the side, looking troubled. “And this was when you were in District 13?” 

“Yeah. Before I found Bart and I think before Lex started to torture him.”

He pursed his lips, looking deep in concentration as they walked along.

Chloe fell silent too, adjusting the bag on her back but walking quickly as possible without running, she had no idea what Carter had packed, but it was surely better than what they had. 

Carter remained silent until they approached the small house where the others had been staying. “Let’s get inside,” he suggested.

“Lois?” Chloe called, pushing the door open and stepping inside, with Carter right behind her. 

“Hey.” Lois appeared a moment later, arching her eyebrows when she spotted Carter. “He’s still asleep.”

“Is he any better?” Chloe asked, making her way to the smaller room where Clark and Bart had managed to pile up a couple of mattresses for Oliver to lay down on, on his stomach since his back was the worst. 

“No real change,” she admitted quietly.

“Carter has some more medicine,” she explained, setting the bag down and kneeling by the bed, not hesitating before reaching to feel Oliver’s forehead, her stomach clenching, “he’s burning up.”

He’d been burning up for the last twenty-four hours, but Lois didn’t feel the need to point that out. She simply nodded a little. 

Carter squatted down on the floor, emptying the contents of the bag he’d brought and pulling out a couple of different medicines. 

“Should I remove the bandages?” Chloe asked, glancing over at him. 

He nodded slightly. “Yes, thank you.” 

With a deep breath, she reached for one of her knives and cut the bandages open slowly and carefully, so she wouldn’t have to move him, wincing at how soaked in blood they all were.

Carter grimaced ever-so-slightly before applying some of the medicine to clean cotton balls and gently swabbing it over the injuries, which he recognized as whip marks. “This should help stop the bleeding, at the very least,” he murmured, glancing at Chloe.

“I didn’t have a lot of that stuff you sent us left.” She admitted, “and it’s old, I guess, I don’t know if it had an expiration date.”

“I think these wounds might be too many and too deep to be helped with that medicine,” he admitted. 

“What are you saying?” She asked, her jaw clenching instantly.

“That we may need something stronger to actually _heal_ the wounds. Or at the very least, more of the fresh kind.” 

“Where can we find that,” she asked, glancing at Bart as she sat up on her heels. 

“The Capitol,” he told her, glancing over at Bart.

“Can you give Bart directions or a building he can get to?” She asked

Bart stepped closer and looked down at the older man. “Just a general area will be fine.”

“Yeah, I can do that,” Carter assured them.

“Okay,” Chloe said, taking a deep breath and taking the medicine Carter was applying to Oliver’s back from him, “I’ll do this while you explain.” She told him, turning her attention right back to Oliver.

Carter nodded slightly, watching her for a moment and then quietly beginning to give Bart directions to where he’d find medicine in the Capitol. 

When Chloe felt the wind that signaled Bart leaving, she took a deep breath and looked at Carter, “his ribs are broken too.”

“One thing at a time,” he said quietly. “Not much that can be done for broken ribs. But I do have some painkillers that should help when he wakes up.” 

“And the fever should get better with the medicine Bart went to get,” she said quietly, keeping her eyes on Oliver.

Carter nodded slightly. “He’s going to be okay,” he told her, resting a gentle hand on her shoulder. “He’s a fighter.”

“At least he was until Lex did something to him.” She said through clenched teeth. 

He drew in a breath and let it out slowly. “Well, Lex doesn’t have him now. And he has all of us.” 

“Yeah,” she breathed, nodding a little and setting down the nearly empty container on the floor next to her. “Hopefully that will be enough.”

He nodded slightly, as well, pursing his lips. 

It would have to be.


	9. Chapter 9

After Bart’s trip to the Capitol for medicine, they learned that not only was the area completely deserted, but it was also filled with nicely furnished empty apartments, food, water and medication along with a huge arsenal and what had Chloe excited the most: all of the Kandorian and human technology that was left seemed to be in one piece in some of the underground labs that Bart had found. 

They had gotten there days ago, she wasn’t sure how many and while she did feel like this was a good start for their plans, Oliver’s situation wasn’t much better. The fever was down, but still there, the cuts on his back had mostly healed, and according to Clark, his ribs looked slightly better, but he was still out. 

Chloe had been spending all of her free time there with him, watching him. They had been able to feed him liquids, but even with all the physical improvements, she couldn’t help but worry that he just wouldn’t wake up. 

His body felt heavy and he tried to lift his head, but couldn’t quite manage it. A soft, barely audible sigh escaped him as he managed to open his eyes just a little.

She stilled when she heard his breath and lifted her head, her eyes widening when she saw him opening his eyes, “Oliver?” She whispered, shifting to the edge of her chair. 

His eyebrows furrowed a little and he turned his head just slightly toward the sound of her voice. 

Holding her breath, she shifted closer, “don’t move,” she said quietly, lifting a hand to his face.

“Chloe?” he mumbled.

“Yeah,” she swallowed hard, “I’m here.” 

He turned his head more toward her touch, closing his eyes. “‘s going on?” 

“You were hurt,” she said quietly, “but you’re safe now.”

He gave a slight nod, letting out a breath, and then he quickly opened his eyes. “The Games?” 

“Are over.” She told him, “so are the Kandorians.”

Oliver relaxed a little at her words. “Good. That’s good,” he murmured.

“How are you feeling?” She whispered, brushing his hair from his face.

“I’ve been better,” he admitted, shifting a little and wincing as pain shot through his ribs. 

“Don’t move,” she said quietly, “they are broken.”

“Yeah, I figured.” He grew still once more, looking up at her. 

Chloe arched her eyebrows a little at the look on his face but didn’t say anything.

“Are _you_ okay?” 

“Not a single broken bone,” she said, cocking her head a little.

A faint smile touched his mouth at that and he nodded ever-so-slightly, closing his eyes once more. 

“Are you hungry? Thirsty?” She asked, dropping her hand to her side.

“A little thirsty,” he murmured.

“Here” she stood up and poured him a glass of water, then made her way back to the mattresses again.

Swallowing hard, he shifted so he could push himself into a sitting position, holding his breath at the pain.

“Don’t do that,” she said, lifting his head for him gently, “don’t put pressure on your ribs.”

His eyebrows furrowed a little, but he didn’t argue. “Thanks,” he whispered.

“Clark X-rayed you, it’s pretty bad.” She explained as she slowly lifted the water to his lips.

The last time he could remember, Clark wasn’t exactly trying to do him any favors, and he was a little baffled as to what had changed. He sipped the water slowly, closing his eyes and then laying back down once he’d had enough.

“We have pain killers,” she said quietly.

“How?” he asked, eyebrows furrowing.

“We’re at the Capitol,” she said quietly, looking around the room.

He cocked his head at that, glancing around, as well. “We are?” 

“No one lives here anymore,” she explained, “what is the last thing you remember?”

His eyebrows furrowed a little as he thought back. “Things are a little fuzzy after the games,” he admitted, rubbing a hand over his face tiredly.

“After the games? Do you remember going back to 12?”

Frowning a little, he laid his head back down on the pillow, thinking. “Vaguely, I think.” 

“Well, it doesn’t matter right now,” she told him, “like I said, the Kandorians are gone.”

“And we’re at the Capitol.” 

“And we have a lot of medicine, food, water and even computers.” She said, smiling slightly, incredibly relieved that he was talking again.

“That’s definitely a change,” he murmured, yawning involuntarily.

“Yeah,” she said quietly, “I’ll get you the painkillers,” she said, setting the empty glass back down, “and you should probably go back to sleep.”

“Are you staying?” He was fighting just to keep his eyes open.

Chloe stilled at that, “do you want me to?” She asked before she could stop herself.

“Always,” he whispered, eyes drifting shut involuntarily.

Her chest tightened and she nodded a little, swallowing hard, “then I’ll stay,” she whispered, then sat back down. There was no point in giving him the painkillers if he was already tired enough to sleep, besides, she didn’t really want to leave his side now. 

She looked down at his hand on the bed, hesitating before covering it with her own and squeezing it lightly.

One of his fingers curled around hers instantly even as he began to drift off to sleep once more, breathing evening out, slow and steady.

Chloe held her breath and closed her eyes when she felt them getting warm, then let her breath out slowly. Maybe it was a good thing he didn’t remember the rest of what had happened, he seemed more like his old self in this short conversation than he had the entire time they’d been in 13.

* * * 

Oliver awoke suddenly, sitting up and then gasping as pain ripped through him. Beads of sweat had broken out on his forehead and he glanced around quickly, not seeing Chloe anywhere in sight. He struggled to his feet, leaning against the wall for support. “Chloe?” His voice was strained.

No one answered for a moment, then Clark spoke from another room, “she’s not here.” He called.

He turned toward the sound of Clark’s voice. “Where is she?” He made his way slowly to the room Clark was occupying.

“They just got to 13.” He said, his jaw tight as he stood in front of a mix between a computer and Kryptonian crystals. 

“What? _Why?_ ” His eyes were wide.

“You remember now?” He asked, frowning as he turned to face him.

He rubbed his hand over his face. “Lex,” he responded, swallowing hard. “Why did she go there?” 

Clark’s jaw clenched, “they went after him.”

“And you _let_ them?” There was more than a hint of disbelief in his voice.

“There was no talking them out of it,” he said, turning back to the crystals. 

Oliver stared at him, his vision blurry. 

“You should lay back down,” Clark said without looking at him, “there’s nothing to do now.”

“Take me to 13,” he responded, jaw tightening.

“No.” He said simply, not turning to look at him. 

“You’d rather just let them get themselves killed?” he demanded.

“You’re not going to help them,” he said, “you will get in their way.”

“And why the hell aren’t _you_ helping them?” 

“I’m the only one who can activate Kandorian technology.” He said, keeping his eyes on the screen, “they want it to be broadcasted to the other districts.”

“Then hurry up and get it activated and go help them,” he urged, moving to stand right behind the other man.

“It won’t work, Oliver.” Clark said tightly, “the crystals don’t run on electricity, they recognize my DNA.” 

He raked a hand through his hair and began to pace the floor, his heart beating fast against his chest. 

“Go lay back down, Oliver. Your ribs are still broken.” 

“Forget it,” he said flatly, shaking his head and moving toward the door.

“You can’t leave.” Clark said, “and if I have to go after you, I can’t keep my eyes on them.” He told him, pretty much quoting what Lois and Chloe told him to say if Oliver woke up.

He gritted his teeth. “This is bullshit!” 

“They wouldn’t have gone if you had agreed with Chloe.” Clark said, glancing at him, his jaw tight. 

He turned to face Clark, narrowing his eyes at him. “Excuse me?” 

“She told Lois.” Clark said, eyes narrowing back at him. 

Oliver shook his head. “Told her what?” 

“That you didn’t follow her plan.” Clark said, “and that’s why they went.”

“Her plan wasn’t going to work!” 

“Neither is this one!” Clark said, “at least with that one, no one was going to die!”

“That’s where you’re wrong. Because Lex was going to sacrifice you, and Lois and Chloe to prove a point,” he snapped.

“But not _you_?” He glared.

“You don’t get it, do you?” He shook his head. “He was going to do it because for me that would be worse than dying.” 

Clark stilled at that, his eyes widening, “because _you_ tried to kill him!” 

Oliver looked away, shutting his eyes and falling silent.

“This is all your fault, Oliver.” Clark said, turning back to the computer, “you better not forget that.”

“Go to hell, Clark,” he responded, turning and walking out of the room.

“We’ll be in hell if they don’t come back.” He called, his jaw tight.

“Then go after them!” he shouted. “Screw the cameras!” 

“If they don’t see it, the war won’t end!” Clark told him. 

“What war?” he asked, pausing.

“Among the districts.” 

He rubbed a hand over his face, trying to force himself to take a deep breath. “Then take me to 13 and come back.” 

“You can’t help them!” He said angrily. “And you’ve caused enough damage.”

Oliver glared at him for a moment, then stormed away, slamming the door shut behind him.

* * *

Chloe stopped just outside the door, watching as Bart and Carter vanished with a gush of wind, her heart beating fast, “ready?” She whispered to Lois, wrapping her hands tightly on the gun she was holding down. She didn’t want Lois to be there, but she knew that after she had taken her place in the games, she had no right to ask her to sit this one out too.

“Ready,” Lois confirmed, brows furrowed in concentration. “Let’s do this.” 

With a deep breath, she straightened and nodded, “at least one on each side,” she said quietly, “possibly more toward the back,” she reminded Lois before stepping forward, in front of the door.

Nodding, too, she rose to her feet, taking aim and firing without hesitation, shooting the guard who stepped into her line of sight. Seeing movement toward the back, she moved quickly, shooting again, and then once more.

Chloe was right there with her, the two guards on the right were down within seconds, before Lex even stood up from his desk, the three of them were the only ones standing in the room. She pointed the gun right to his head and glanced at her cousin, “get the door.”

Nodding, Lois turned, shutting the door quickly before turning back to Lex and aiming her gun at him, as well. 

“Chloe,” Lex greeted, sliding his hands on his pockets as he stepped forward, “Lois, what a surprise.” He smirked. 

“It really shouldn’t be a surprise, Lex.” Chloe said, “I never liked leaving things unfinished.”

Lois’s eyes were dark and narrowed at the bald man. “What the hell did you do to Oliver?’ 

“Surely you heard all about what he tried to do with me, Lois?” He asked calmly.

“Yeah, but you actually deserved it,” she said evenly.

“And that’s a huge part of what I’m here to finish,” Chloe said, aiming her gun better, “And to make sure it sticks this time.”

“Are you sure you have what it takes to do that, Chloe?” Lex questioned, leaning back in his chair with a smirk.

“I guess we’re going to find out, aren’t we, Lex?” She said, smirking back.

He arched an eyebrow at her. “We are,” he agreed, glancing past them and at the door as it burst open, revealing Tess and another guard, both of whom aimed their weapons immediately. 

Without thinking about it, Lois whirled on her heel and fired two shots, even as a third rang out in the room.

Chloe barely had time to aim before both Tess and the guard were falling to the ground, she held her breath and turned to look at Lois, about to give her an approving look when she saw her gun drop to the floor, “Lois?” She gasped, staring toward her.

There was a stunned look on her face even as she looked down at the red bloom rapidly growing across her chest. “Oh.” 

“Lois,” Chloe walked straight to her, shaking her head as placed her hand on her cousin’s arm, “no. You’re okay.” She whispered even as her eyes teared up and her jaw clenched.

Lois slumped against her, vision quickly growing blurry. “I don’t think so,” she whispered. 

“Well, I guess we can just add another dead loved one to your list of failures, can’t we?” Lex remarked.

Her stomach turned and she shook her head, helping Lois to the ground before turning to Lex once more, “but at least her i’m not going to fail completely,” she said, not even blinking before firing against chest, once. Twice. Three times, watching as the blood soaked his shirt.

Lois gasped as she stared up at her cousin. “Is he dead?” she whispered, coughing, blood dripping from her mouth.

At Lois’ words, she fired once more, barely aiming, but watching as the bullet went through Lex’s head before turning to Lois again. “he’s dead,” she said, dropping her gun as she lowered to the floor, her face falling as she pulled Lois’ upper body to her lap, “and you’ll be fine.” She whispered, her voice shaking, “you have to be.”

“I don’t think so, Chlo.” She coughed again.

“Stay with me,” she whispered, hugging Lois close. “We got this.”

A tear trickled down her cheek. “You...make yourself happy for once,” she whispered.

Shaking her head, Chloe blinked away the tears, “you know I can’t do that without you,” she sniffed.

“You have to.” She squeezed her hand as tightly as she could.

“Clark!” Chloe called, pulling Lois closer to her and pressing a kiss to the top of her head, “Clark!” She called again as loud as she could, her voice shaking.

A second later, Clark appeared, his eyes wide with horror as he stared at the scene in front of him. “Oh, God,” he whispered.

“She needs help,” she whispered, her own eyes wide, but she kept her arms wrapped firmly around Lois.

“I don’t know where to take her,” he admitted, shaking his head. 

“Take her back,” she said, shaking her head too, “I don’t know,” she whispered, looking down at Lois and brushing her hair from her face.

Wordlessly, Clark moved forward and scooped them both up, zipping away in the blink of an eye.

Chloe closed her eyes, opening them again only when they stopped, back at the apartment. Her arms still wrapped around Lois.

Oliver froze in place at the sight of Chloe’s arms wrapped around Lois. There was blood everywhere, and he wasn’t sure who it belonged to. Feeling sick, he moved quickly and knelt down beside them. “What happened?” 

“Lois?” Chloe called, cupping her face and turning it toward her, “can you hear me?” She whispered.

The brunette’s head dropped limply to one side, eyes drifting shut. 

Oliver reached out, gently pressing his fingers to her throat and feeling for a pulse, his fingers growing slick with blood. 

Chloe sobbed quietly and shook her head, “she’s not shaking anymore.”

“She’s gone,” Clark whispered from a few feet away. 

Oliver stared at Lois’s pale face, holding his breath. Clark was right. She had no pulse. 

Sniffing quietly, Chloe pulled Lois even closer, lowering her head and resting it against hers then shaking it slightly. She couldn’t be, not now.


	10. Chapter 10

Two Months Later

Oliver made his way back into the house after a very long day of meeting and greeting the people of District 6. After nearly three months of fighting, the people in the various districts had calmed down--largely in part because of their efforts in taking control of the situation. With Lex and Tess dead and gone, and the Kandorians out of power, much like Chloe had insinuated, the people began to look for a new leader--and even though most of the time he didn’t feel like he was the best guy for the job, he’d stepped up to the plate. 

And while it was hard work, it wasn’t nearly as hard as the work still ahead: trying to help Chloe come to terms with Lois’s death. 

“Hi,” he said softly.

Chloe looked away from the several computer screens she’d been watching and glanced over at him, “everything seems calm,” she said quietly, “how did it go?”

“Good. They were all very welcoming,” he assured her, stepping farther into the room.

“Good,” She echoed, turning back to the computer, “Clark went to check on thirteen,” she said, it was the only place where they didn’t have cameras since the rebels had pretty much destroyed it completely since they leader’s death.

Oliver nodded slightly, moving to stand behind her and lightly resting his hands on her shoulders. “Good,” he murmured.

She held her breath and let it out slowly, “have you heard from Carter?”

“He’s in two,” he told her, gently massaging her shoulders and neck. “On a food run.” 

Chloe let her hands drop from the keyboard but kept her eyes on the screens. “I guess we won’t be seeing him for a while.”

“Probably a week or so,” he agreed, nodding. He was silent for a moment. “How are you doing?” His voice grew more quiet.

“Okay,” she told him, glancing at him over her shoulder, “you?”

“Glad to be back,” he admitted quietly.

Looking away again, she nodded a little and pursed her lips together. “Hopefully we will not have anymore incidents.”

He sighed very softly, leaning down and pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “Bart should be here soon to take watch for awhile.” 

“What for?” She asked, arching her eyebrows.

“So we can take a short break.” 

Frowning slightly, she turned to look at him.

“Just for a little while,” he assured her softly. “I thought we could eat dinner and maybe take a little walk.” 

“Okay,” she sighed softly and looked down, “do you know if he found Dinah?”

“He’s still looking,” he admitted, reaching out and tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

With a slight nod, she watched him for a moment, “we have to find her.”

“We will.” He hoped anyway. He let his hand drop to his side once more, exhaling slowly.

“Go rest while we wait for Bart,” she told him, turning to face the computers once more.

Oliver gazed at her a moment. “I’m just gonna take a quick shower.” 

“Okay,” she nodded slightly, switching between the hundreds of cameras they had. While they didn’t plan on using them against the people if they decided to rebel, she did want to make sure everyone was as safe as they could be in case a group of the former 13 people or Kandorians decided to attack one of the districts.

He gave her shoulder a light squeeze before rubbing a hand over his face and moving back toward the bathroom without another word. It was still strange to have hot water again after all that time, but he was grateful for it. He undressed quickly and stepped under the hot spray, letting the water wash over him. 

He knew it was normal for a person to grieve for the loss of someone they loved for years after they passed away; that had been his own experience, as well. But he was more than a little worried about Chloe. She and Lois had been like sisters. And she’d lost everyone else, sans Clark and Bart, that mattered to her. It really wasn’t fair.

* * * 

It was no mystery what Oliver was trying to do. To distract her, to get her out and to get her to go back to normal, as normal as it could get anyway, but she knew it wasn’t going to work. If the Kandorian invasion, the games and killing Lex hadn’t been enough to change her, losing Lois had been the last drop. The whole point of _everything_ had been to protect her, to make sure she could stay home and live her life with Clark, even if it was a miserable life under the Kandorian’s commands, it was better than this.

And every time she thought about it, it made her so angry, like Zod and Lex had both won because they took Lois and not her. They had taken the one person she’d been trying to protect and she had no one to blame but herself. And she knew Clark blamed her too, but not Oliver, for some reason. If anything, he seemed to blame himself and she knew how much of an effort he was putting into pulling it together to go through with her plan. 

Which was why she made an effort to go along with him and to pull herself together enough when he was around, because even if she could never fulfill Lois’ dying wish, and even though she still had to control her emotions around him, he was the easiest person to be around these days.

Maybe it was because he had been through most of it with her, because she felt that out of everyone, he understood everything the best even if she hadn’t explained anything. Maybe it was because he hadn’t asked for an explanation. But in any case, walking around the Capitol, under the yellow sun with him in silence was as close to comfortable as she could get.

They walked for a long while, just around the roads that were still in place, unlike the roads back in 12 that were still being rebuilt. He knew it would be a long time before the rest of the districts were back to working order, back the way they _should_ have remained before the Kandorians took over. But there was no sense in thinking about what if’s or should have’s. “It’s nice out,” he commented, voice quiet.

“Yeah,” she whispered, looking up toward the sun, as much as she could. “It’s quiet, it never got this quiet in Metropolis.” She murmured. Of course they had about less than a fifth of the population in a city three times its size, but it was as close to home as she could get.

He chewed the inside of his cheek for a moment, glancing at her sideways, and then hesitantly reaching out, curling his pinky finger around hers wordlessly.

She hooked her finger with his and took a deep breath, but remained silent for a long moment, “we should go back.” She said eventually.

“Soon,” he agreed. “There’s something I want to show you first.” He smiled faintly and kept walking, turning down the next street.

Frowning slightly, she looked up at him then ahead, squinting as she tried to see what it could be.

“Not much farther,” he assured her, leading her up the sidewalk and to the front door of a small house. He knocked on it lightly, waiting.

Chloe watched him for a moment then looked at the door, not sure what to expect.

A moment later, the door opened and Victor Stone stood there, a smile on his face as he gazed at Chloe. “Hey.” 

“Victor?” She stilled, her eyes wide, she glanced up at Oliver then back at him, “you’re alive.”

“I am,” he said, nodding, and stepping forward to hug her.

She hugged him back, tightly as she closed her eyes, “where have you been?”

“Out of commission in District 8,” he admitted, hugging her back tightly. “At least until a couple days ago.” He glanced over her shoulder to Oliver and raised his eyebrows.

Chloe glanced over at Oliver, “you found him?” she asked.

He nodded slightly, reaching up to rub the back of his neck.

“Ollie brought me back here and recharged me, so to speak.” Victor shrugged a little. “Guess I owe him even more now.” His words were teasing.

Nodding slightly, she watched Oliver for a moment then turned back to Victor, “it’s good to see you, have you seen Bart yet?”

“Yeah, he came over earlier.” 

“Good,” she nodded slightly, “have you heard from Arthur?” She asked, glancing at Oliver again.

He dropped his gaze, shaking his head a little. “No, I haven’t.” 

“Maybe he’s with Dinah,” she said, looking down too.

“Maybe,” Victor agreed quietly, glancing between them.

Oliver drew in a breath and let it out slowly. “We’ll find them.” 

“You should come by and see the computers,” she told Victor, straightening, “I’m sure you miss them as much as I did.”

“Yeah, I definitely will,” he assured her with a small smile.

“I guess I’ll see you then,” she said quietly, nodding slightly.

“Definitely. Good to see you,” he told her sincerely, nodding at Ollie before disappearing back inside the house.

Chloe stared at the door for a moment then turned to Oliver at again, “how long has he been here?”

“Just a few days,” he told her, voice quiet.

“I’m glad you found him,” She said quietly, “or did he come for you?” Everyone knew where Oliver was now, considering his position.

“The former,” he answered, offering her a small smile. 

Nodding, she took a deep breath and glanced up at the sun again.

“Still hard to believe it’s back, isn’t it?” He looked up, too.

“Yeah,” she agreed quietly, “it still doesn’t feel real.”

Oliver pursed his lips, hesitating a second, then offering her his arm silently.

She looked up at him for a moment then stepped closer to him, taking his arm.

He smiled a little, glancing down at her as they started to walk back toward the house where they were staying. “How are you doing?” His voice grew softer.

“Okay,” she said quietly, “better to know we can still find people alive.” She admitted. Even if it didn’t bring Lois back, it was good to know people had survived this too. 

He nodded ever-so-slightly in agreement. “If you decide you want to talk about anything, I always have time for you,” he whispered.

“I know you do.” She sighed softly, “but there is nothing to talk about.”

“Okay,” he said quietly. “Just as long you as know I’m here.”

“I know,” she nodded, holding his arm closer slightly, “I am too, if you need.”

He paused at that, glancing down at her for a moment. “I do,” he admitted.

“You do?” She asked, holding her breath, even if she had made the offer, she didn’t know how much help she could actually be.

He pulled his arm away from her, but only so he could turn to face her, reaching out and gently grasping her arms. “Yes,” he whispered. “Chloe, you’re the one who’s kept me going all this time.” 

She frowned, confused and shook her head, “what do you mean?”

She still didn’t get it. He drew in a breath and let it out slowly. “I’m saying I absolutely need you in my life. I always have.” 

“Oliver,” she sighed softly, “I know we went through a lot together,” she said quietly, “and I’m glad you’re still helping me, but we were barely speaking before.”

“I know. And I realize that’s my fault,” he said just as quietly. “But it doesn’t make it any less true.” 

“It’s not your fault,” she said, “but it is the truth, between Lex and Davis... all we did was argue.”

“Did you ever stop and ask yourself why?” He gazed at her intently, letting his hands drop from her arms.

“Because we didn’t agree?” She frowned, not really knowing what else to say.

“Because I was scared I was going to lose you,” he told her, shaking his head.

“We weren’t close before, Oliver,” she said quietly.

“Because I wouldn’t let us get too close,” he agreed.

“You wouldn’t?” She asked, cocking her head slightly.

“No. I wanted to, but I couldn’t.” He looked away, his chest tightening.

“You couldn’t?” Chloe frowned more, watching him, “what are you saying?”

“You were already involved with Jimmy,” he said quietly, not looking at her. “And I didn’t want to screw up your life.” There was irony there and he blew out a breath, rubbing a hand over his face wearily.

“Oh,” her face fell at that, even though the memory of Jimmy was distant and felt like a different lifetime, she still blamed herself for that, too. 

He pursed his lips for a moment, then looked back at her, guilt washing over him at the look on her face. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have--” He shook his head a little. “Let’s get back.” 

Shaking her head, she took a deep breath and looked up at him, “what about after?” She asked, making an effort to help him talk about what he wanted to talk about, “after this started, you were around.”

“Yeah. I was,” he said quietly, looking down for a moment, then meeting her gaze.

“You were leaving us the baskets,” she said, she had never brought this up before, she hadn’t thought about it since the games, “you knew where we were all along.”

He nodded once more, chewing the inside of his cheek. “I mostly lived in the forest outside the district.” 

“I know,” she said, searching his eyes, “why didn’t you come see us?”

“Well, I knew how Clark felt about me already,” he said quietly. “And I was pretty sure you felt about the same.” 

“I owed you an apology,” she whispered, holding her breath, “I still do.”

“That’s the last thing you owe me, Chloe.” His chest tightened painfully. “If anyone here owes anyone an apology, it’s me.” 

“You were right about Davis all along, Oliver.” Her own chest tightened, “maybe if I had listened, none of this would have happened at all.”

He had been right about Davis. But he shook his head, stepping a little closer to her. “I may have been right, but my approach was completely wrong. I wasn’t thinking straight.” 

“Neither was I.” She sighed softly, looking down then back at him, “but now I understand I should have listened.”

“We both should have,” he whispered. “And so should have Clark.” He looked away once more, holding his breath for a moment. There was definitely enough blame to go around, and truthfully they were all a little bit guilty. He could see that clearly now.

Nodding slightly, she took a deep breath but kept her eyes on him, “I guess it doesn’t matter, what is done is done.” And she couldn’t bring Lois or Jimmy back.

He shifted his gaze back to her once more. “It is,” he agreed quietly. He hesitantly reached out and cupped her cheek in his hand. “I’m still sorry.” 

Her face fell once more and she nodded slightly, “me too.”

Swallowing hard, he shifted closer, pulling her into his arms and hugging her tightly, resting his chin atop her head.

She wrapped her arms around him without hesitation and hid her face against his chest, closing her eyes. Clark had distanced himself from them as much as he could since Lois’ death, and she couldn’t blame him, but she didn’t know where she would be without Oliver.

“I’m sorry this is so hard,” he whispered. “That you’ve lost so much.” He shut his eyes.

Chloe shook her head slightly and pulled him even closer, “I’m sorry I haven’t been here for you as much as you’ve been helping me,” she murmured against his chest, “I know how much you miss her too.”

His arms tightened around her a little more, too. He did miss Lois. He missed her a lot. But he knew what he felt paled in comparison to Chloe’s pain over her loss. “Shh,” he murmured. “I’m okay.” 

“I’m sorry,” she said quietly, her eyes felt warm so she closed them tightly.

He reached up and gently rested his hand on the back of her head. “She wouldn’t want you to blame yourself,” he said just as quietly.

“I know,” she sniffed, shaking her head, “but that wasn’t how it was supposed to go.”

“No,” he murmured. “Things rarely are how they should be.” He cupped her cheek once more, tilting her head up to look at him. 

“If I had thought about Tess,” she shook her head, “I should have sent Bart for her.”

“Chloe, you had no way of knowing if Tess even made it out of the Capitol when the bombings started,” he said quietly. “None of us saw her in 13 when we were there. I thought she was dead.” 

“She should have been.” She said in an angry whispered as she looked away.

“I wish she had been.” He looked down.

Chloe took a deep breath and shook her head, “the whole point was to protect her.”

Oliver’s eyes were sad as he gazed at her once more. “I know it was.” 

“And I failed.” She sighed softly, looking down.

“You did everything you could,” he whispered.

“But it wasn’t enough,” she told him, “Lex still won.”

And _that_ was _his_ fault. He fell silent, guilt washing over him once more. “I wish I could change things,” he murmured.

“Me too,” she said tiredly, then shook her head slightly.

He reached out and took her hand in his, lacing their fingers together. “Come on. Let’s go home,” he whispered.

She held onto his hand and took a deep breath, then started back toward the house. They could have taken what was left of Zod’s crystal castle, but instead, it had been destroyed. They had enough bad memories as it was.

They walked in silence back to their house, and when they reached the door, he opened it for her wordlessly.

She stepped inside with him, and once the door was closed, she turned to face him, “I know we got off track,” she said quietly, now that she had managed to pull herself together, “was there something else you wanted to talk about?”

He held his breath for a moment, then shook his head a little. “No. I’m okay.” 

Nodding slightly, she stepped closer and wrapped her arms around him once more.

This time, he was a little caught off guard, but he hugged her back without hesitation. “Tell you what,” he murmured. “Why don’t Bart and I take watch tonight, and you get a little extra rest?” 

Nodding slightly, she pulled away and looked at him for a moment, “okay,” she agreed, mostly because she was exhausted, even if she knew she never really got any real rest anymore.

He relaxed at her easy agreement, and lifted his hand to tuck some hair behind her ear, his fingers brushing lightly over her cheek. “Okay.” 

“Thank you.” She whispered, searching his eyes.

Oliver leaned forward and pressed a tender kiss to her forehead. “Anytime.” 

Chloe closed her eyes for a moment, her chest tightening, then pulled away, looking up at him for a second longer before turning for the hallway, “wake me up if you need me.”

“Will do,” he promised, watching her go.

She knew he wouldn’t wake her up, but she felt like she should at least offer since she’d be just laying down, trying not to fall asleep to avoid the nightmares anyway.

* * * 

A few hours later, Oliver made his way quietly down the hall, gently pushing open the door to Chloe’s room and peeking in. He could see her laying in bed, faced away from the door and he hesitantly moved closer to the bed. “Chloe?” His voice was almost inaudible. “You awake?” 

She had been, but she didn’t want to worry him, so she didn’t answer, just closed her eyes and did her best not to move.

He relaxed a little, exhaling slowly as he stood there, rubbing a hand over his face. “Goodnight,” he murmured. “I love you.” His voice dropped even more, and he turned to head out of her room once more.

“Oliver?” She called even before she could stop herself, her eyes widening when she heard the words, but she hadn’t meant to speak up at all, so she stilled once more, hoping he hadn’t heard her.

He froze at the sound of her voice, holding his breath for a moment. “Did I wake you?” 

“I... don’t know.” She whispered, wincing. 

He swallowed hard. “Sorry,” he whispered back. 

“It’s okay.” She turned toward him, better to pretend she hadn’t heard _what_ he said, “everything okay?”

“Yeah, everything’s fine. I was just...checking on you,” he admitted quietly. He wondered if she knew he’d been doing that every single night.

“Oh,” she breathed, turning her head up slightly to look at him better in the darkness.

“Are you all right?” 

“Yeah,” she nodded, then sat up, “are you going to bed?”

“Yeah, for a couple hours. Bart and Vic are watching the cameras,” he told her softly. “Go back to sleep.”

“Bart might need a break,” she said, “I can get up.”

“He took one earlier,” he assured her. “Slept for fifteen minutes and then refueled on food.” He smiled a little.

“Oh.” She took a deep breath then shrugged, “okay. I guess he and Victor want to spend some time together.”

“I’m sure they’ll both be ready for a break by morning,” he said softly. “We’ll take over then. Okay?” 

“You sleep in,” she told him, “I might not be able to go back to sleep anyway.”

He paused at that. “I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.” 

“It’s okay,” she told him, “sleeping isn’t great lately,” she murmured before she could stop herself. 

“Nightmares?” he asked quietly.

“Yeah,” she sighed softly, he had seen her sleeping after the games, he knew she had them. She‘d had them since Davis.

He hesitated a moment. “If you want, I could stay until you fell asleep. I mean, if that would help at all.” He chewed the inside of his cheek.

Chloe paused and closed her eyes, “I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.”

“I’m not,” he assured her. “I mean, unless it would make _you_ uncomfortable.” 

“No,” she pursed her lips together. It never had before.

Oliver moved to the door, shutting it quietly and then returned to the edge of her bed, sitting down on it slowly. Hours ago, he’d taken off his shoes for the day, leaving them by the door in case he had to leave quickly for any reason. He stretched out on the bed beside her, facing her.

Chloe watched him for a moment then laid back down too, on her back but she turned her head toward him, “how have you been sleeping?”

“Not great,” he admitted softly, gazing at her in the darkness.

“Do you think this will help?” She whispered, watching him.

“Guess we’ll see.” He smiled, but it was faint. He hesitated, then reached out, taking her hand in his silently.

She turned to face him fully, covering his hand with both of hers and nodded slightly. It had helped her when they were at the Capitol, under Zod’s watch. Maybe it would help again.

“Goodnight, Chloe,” he whispered, squeezing her hand gently and letting his eyes drift shut.

“Night, Oliver.” She said quietly, but kept her eyes on him, hoping it would at least help him relax.

Within moments, he’d drifted off to sleep, fingers wrapped tightly around hers.

Once he had been breathing evenly for a long time, she shifted closer very carefully not to wake him, wrapped her arm around his as she pulled his arm closer to her then took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Even if she didn’t fall asleep again, she could try to relax.


	11. Chapter 11

By the time she woke up, the sun was already up again. She was facing her closet and Oliver’s arm was wrapped around her, his body pressed behind hers as she hugged his hand to her chest, their fingers linked together.

Chloe took a deep breath and closed her eyes again. She had to get up, Bart and Victor were probably exhausted by now and she needed to go back to watching the cameras, but she didn’t want to wake Oliver. She knew he hadn’t been sleeping well either, these days, she wasn’t sure which of them looked more tired. 

He felt her shift against him ever-so-slightly, but he remained still, not wanting to move. He’d slept the best he had in months. He only hoped she had gotten some rest, too.

When she felt him move, she knew she had woken him up, the times she’d seen him sleeping, she knew he didn’t move much, or at least she hadn’t noticed that he did. Pursing her lips together, she turned her head and looked over at him.

“Morning,” he murmured, his arm tightening around her just a little for a moment. 

“Hi.” She said quietly, “sorry I woke you.”

“It’s okay,” he assured her with a faint smile. “You get any sleep?” 

“Yeah,” she admitted, nodding, “you?”

“I did.” He nodded, too, gazing at her for a moment and letting his eyes drift shut once more. 

“Stay here,” she said quietly, turning slowly on her back to take a better look at him, “I’ll go check on Bart and Victor.”

He opened his eyes once more, frowning a little. “Trying to ditch me?” he teased lightly.

“I think you already proved me I can’t,” she said, trying to keep her voice light too, but it didn’t really sound natural anymore. “You need rest.”

He reached out, taking her hand once more. “You’re right. You can’t,” he said quietly.

Her face softened a little at that and she nodded, looking down at their hands.

“You’re absolutely stuck with me,” he added, brushing his thumb lightly over the back of her hand, and then hesitating a second before kissing her temple. 

Sighing deeply, she closed her eyes and squeezed his hand, “thank you.” She whispered.

“You’re welcome,” he whispered back.

Opening her eyes again, she looked up at him and watched him for a moment, “and,” she paused, “thank you for staying.”

He opened his eyes once more, too, gazing back at her. “Did it help?” he asked softly, searching her eyes.

“Yeah,” she admitted, she figured it would. She just would never have asked him herself.

He smiled faintly, lifting his hand to her cheek and nodding. “Me too.” 

“Good,” she said quietly, letting out her breath as she leaned into his touch without realizing what she was doing.

Oliver gazed at her intently, holding his breath as his thumb moved gently across her cheek.

Chloe watched him for a moment, then hesitated before wrapping an arm around him, glancing down at his hand then back at him.

“You are so beautiful,” he murmured. 

Her face fell slightly and she shook her head, closing her eyes. She didn’t know how he could think that, especially not after everything she had done. But then, she didn’t understand why he was still there, either.

He bit his lip, reluctantly dropping his hand from her cheek once more. “Sorry.” 

“It’s okay.” She whispered, not wanting him to feel guilty, he obviously didn’t really understand. 

“All right.” He nodded slightly. “Why don’t I go get the coffee started?” 

“No, Ollie.” She sighed softly, “I mean it, stay here. Go back to sleep.”

“I’m okay, Chloe,” he said just as quietly. 

“You’re always taking care of me.” She said in a whisper, shaking her head slightly.

Oliver gazed back at her, pursing his lips for a moment. “Because I want to.” 

She nodded slightly, then shrugged slightly, “maybe it would help if you’d let me do the same.” She told him, she never really needed to ask him to take care of him, but she had been finding it hard to think long enough about things to figure out how to and now that she said that, it made sense. She’d always had someone to look after. Lois, her entire life, her dad after her mom left and Clark. And now she really didn’t anymore. Just him.

“You think so?” He studied her for a moment, chewing the inside of his cheek.

“Do you think it would help you?” She asked, holding his gaze this time.

“If we took care of each other?” He paused, considering that, and then nodding a little. “Yeah.” 

Shifting slightly, she held her breath, “then we can try.”

He held his breath, too. “Deal,” he whispered.

Pursing her lips together, she nodded slightly then shifted to sit up, “that means you can stay, and I can make coffee,” she said seriously. It was small, but it was a start.

He laid his head back against the pillows once more, watching her. “All right.” 

Chloe smiled slightly at that then got up and headed to the bathroom to change before she made her way to the kitchen to make coffee, she probably hadn’t made her own coffee since they got to the house. Or if she had, she didn’t remember, things were still kind of blurry, but at least she had something new to focus on.

* * * 

Oliver glanced around the house in District 7, arching his eyebrows a little. It was nicer, cleaner, and more furnished than he’d expected it would be considering so much of the district was still being re-constructed. But a few days after he’d announced nationally that he’d be visiting for a few weeks, he got word that some of the people of the district had prepared a house for him to stay in. “Nice,” he murmured, glancing back at Chloe, who was right behind him.

“Yeah,” she agreed, impressed as she looked around, “much nicer than anything we could ever have had in 12.” She told him quietly, glancing back at him. She hadn’t been on any of his trips since he officially became leader. Her excuse had always been to stay behind and monitor everything else, but with Bart and Victor there and Clark kind of around, she really didn’t have an excuse anymore. Besides, if they were going to help each other, she figured she should be supportive. 

He nodded slightly in agreement, setting their luggage down on the floor. The place wasn’t as big as the one they were occupying in the capitol, but it was definitely nicer. “Let’s check it out,” he suggested, hesitantly reaching his hand out to her.

Chloe took his hand without hesitation and nodded a little. The more time they spent together, the more comfortable she had been feeling with him, maybe because she did know he wasn’t going anywhere and considering how calm things had been, she was almost allowing herself to believe that.

He gave her hand a light squeeze as he walked through the main living room area and into the kitchen, glancing around curiously before pulling open the fridge. It was fully stocked. He grinned a little and looked at her, arching his eyebrows.

“Wow,” she murmured, her eyes widening. Food wasn’t hard to come by anymore, but they had gone without much of it for so long, they just didn’t keep much of it around these days, “I should come with you to these more often.”

“Well, I certainly wouldn’t protest,” he told her, smiling a bit more and peering into the fridge. 

Chloe looked at the fridge for a second then reached for an apple and held it out to him. 

“Thanks.” He grinned at her and took a bite, closing his eyes.

She watched him for a moment, smiling a little before picking up an apple for herself. It wasn’t her favorite, but it reminded her of Smallville. 

He took another bite, and then began to open cabinets, seeing they were fully stocked, too. His eyes widened as he saw something he hadn’t seen in years: pasta noodles. “Holy shit,” he whispered, reaching out and picking up one of the containers filled with the noodles and holding them up for her to see.

“Wha-- woah,” she blinked, stepping closer to him, “where did they get _those_? Do you think they made it?” 

“Maybe,” he said, nodding. “You know what this means?” 

Chloe smiled a little at that, “that you finally get to make me the pasta you always talk about?”

He laughed, amusement twinkling in his eyes. “Exactly.” 

She grinned softly when he laughed and nodded, “good, I’m sure we can get some tomatoes oh and maybe bread?” 

“There’s probably some around here somewhere already, but if not, we’ll find some,” he told her, setting the container of pasta down on the counter. 

“I can’t imagine all the trouble they must have gone through to set all this up,” she said quietly, shaking her head, “they really love you.”

He paused at that, turning to look at her, his chest tightening. “I think they’re going to be pretty happy to see you, too.” 

“Maybe,” she said with a shrug, “but you’re the one they look up to.”

“Yeah, but...you’re the one _I_ look up to,” he murmured.

Her face softened at that and she shook her head slightly, “but they know what I did. To Lex. It’s good that they have you.”

He set his apple down on the counter and slid his arms around her in a hug. “They also know Lex deserved it,” he whispered in her ear. “They saw what happened to Lois.” And he himself had been honest about Lex’s activities both before and during the reign of the Kandorians. The only district that was still resisting was 13, and even some of them had been filtering in from other districts.

Chloe wrapped her arms around him too, lowering her head against his chest at the mention of Lois, “I know,” she whispered, “I don’t regret it.”

He hugged her closer to him, gently rubbing her back. “People understand that,” he murmured.

Nodding slightly, she turned her head toward his a little, “I know.” she repeated, “but I’m glad I did it, and not you. So they would still have you.”

Wordlessly he pressed a kiss to her forehead, closing his eyes for a moment. He hadn’t forgotten that if he hadn’t been the one who’d _tried_ to murder Lex before the Kandorians had taken over, everything could be very different now.

Turning her head a little more, she pressed a kiss to his jaw without thinking about it, she knew he was thinking about his own attempt at Lex’s life, but in a way, she was glad Lex had found a way back, at least he had made it possible for them to destroy the towers.

He rested his chin atop her head as he leaned back against the counter, simply holding her for a long moment. “Either way. I think they’ll be happily surprised you’re here with me,” he whispered.

Sighing softly, she nodded, leaning against him as she lifted her head to look at him, “they probably will be,” she agreed. People still believed everything during and after the games had been real, after all. And there was no point setting them straight.

He lifted his hand to her cheek, gently tucking some hair behind her ear before meeting her eyes. “I’m glad you came with me,” he whispered.

“Me too,” she admitted quietly, even if she was a little anxious about the public appearance the next day, she did want to see the districts and to see him doing his job.

He kissed her forehead once more before resting his hands on her hips and offering her a smile. “Why don’t we tour the rest of the house, and then I’ll make us some dinner?” 

“Okay,” she agreed, pulling away from him, “but that better take a while, they had a lot of food for us in the train.”

He grinned. “It’s been awhile since I’ve cooked, so yeah. It’ll take some time.” 

“Good,” she nodded a little then smiled slightly for him, “I wonder what else they have...” she said quietly as she turned to leave the kitchen.

His smile faded a little as she turned and headed out of the kitchen. He rubbed a hand over his face, glancing around the room once more, and then following her.

She looked over the living room, then made her way down the hallway, glancing at him over her shoulder.

“What are we looking for?” he teased, arching his eyebrows.

“You’re too quiet for your own good,” she said, shrugging. 

“Somehow I don’t think Bart or Vic would agree with you,” he told her with an amused smile.

“Well, they’re not around you as much as I am.” She pointed out.

“You think I’m too quiet? Really?” He cocked his head to the side.

“Well, I’m not saying in general, I’m saying you’re stealthy. You know, the Green Arrow thing, I guess.”

“Oh.” He shrugged a little, smiling as they stopped outside the bathroom. He flipped on the light and peered inside. 

Chloe looked inside too and nodded a little, “it’s really big,” she said, shaking her head, “I wonder if all the houses are this big in seven.”

“Guess we’ll find out more tomorrow,” he said, nodding.

“What are the other districts like?” She asked, stepping back into the hallway.

“More like what we were used to in twelve,” he admitted, heading down the hall to the next room: the bedroom. He flipped on the light in there and stepped inside. “But reconstruction is going well in most of them, so things are getting better all the time.” 

“With everything we distributed from the capitol and 13, and with the districts being able to buy and sell amongst themselves, hopefully it won’t take long,” she said as she walked into the bedroom, arching her eyebrows at the really large, probably home made, bed. 

He nodded again, sinking down onto the edge of it and sliding off his shoes. “Yeah, people are pretty eager to get back to the way things used to be. They want to work, and they want to do what they’re good at. Fortunately, there are a lot of people who have a pretty wide variety of skills, so that works out well.” 

She couldn’t help but smile softly as she heard him, nodding, she pursed her lips together, “at least now they have their independence. And they don’t have to fear for their lives.”

“Agreed, on both accounts.” He looked up at her. “The mattress is nice.” 

Chloe sat down next to him and nodded, cocking her head, “really nice. And really wide.” She said quietly.

Not that they needed much space. Since the night he’d spent in her room back at the Capitol, he’d been spending every night with her, wrapping her up in his arms and assuring them both a better night sleep than any night they spent apart. And the bed back home wasn’t that big. He nodded at her statement, nudging her lightly with his elbow.

She looked down at his elbow then looked back at him, arching her eyebrows a little. 

He grinned at her playfully before flopping back on the bed.

“So what do you normally do on your trips?” She asked, smiling softly as she laid back down too.

“Mostly just go out and talk to people,” he said, turning his head to look at her. “Try to encourage them. You know, build up morale.” 

“You can do that if you want to.” She said, “tonight I mean. Or we can.”

“We can wait til tomorrow.” He smiled softly. “It’ll give us time to get settled in a little first.” And he hadn’t had any time alone with her since...ever. His chest tightened a little at that realization and he looked up at the ceiling. 

“Okay,” she agreed, but frowned at the look on his face, “what is it?”

“Hmm?” He glanced over at her again, then let out a breath, shaking his head. “Just thinking.” 

“About?” She asked, cocking her head.

He paused for a moment, gazing at her. “About how we never really got a chance to be friends,” he admitted quietly. “You know, hang out and do the whole one-on-one thing.” 

Chloe considered that for a moment then nodded slightly, “I guess we didn’t really. We only hung out when we were at Isis or the Clocktower, for work.”

“Yeah.” He nodded, too, then rolled onto his side, propping his head up on one hand.

“But we still know each other pretty well...” she pursed her lips together, “especially now.”

“I guess I just wish that things had happened differently.” His eyes were sad. 

“I think we all do,” she shrugged, turning slightly more toward him, “what do you wish was different?”

“I wish I’d taken the time to get to know you better before all of this went down.” He chewed the inside of his cheek. “That I hadn’t wasted so much time on things that I couldn’t do anything about.” 

Chloe looked down at that and shrugged slightly, “I’m still here.” She said quietly, glancing back at him.

“I know,” he said just as quietly.

“It will never be the same.” She nodded, pursing her lips together and looking away again.

He looked down at the bedspread, falling silent for a long moment. “I wish I could just...track down Zatanna,” he whispered, laying on his back once more and closing his eyes. 

“Zatanna?” She frowned, “you think she could blink and make it all disappear?” The thought made her stomach tight with hope she knew she shouldn’t have.

“The thought had occurred to me,” he admitted. “But I don’t think she’s probably still alive.” 

“I guess if she was, she would know where to find you.” She murmured, nodding. Like Dinah and AC.

“And if she was, I doubt things would have gotten as far as they did,” he added, chewing the inside of his cheek.

“She had reason to go after Lex too,” Chloe agreed.

He glanced at her, raising his eyebrows. “Because he had her father’s book?” 

“That’s what I heard,” she nodded a little.

“Yeah. But she got it back,” he murmured. “Chained me to a pole the same night.” 

“I know,” she arched her eyebrows then smiled a little. “But you made it out okay.”

He smiled back faintly. “Yeah.” 

“Do you ever think of going back?” She asked quietly, “to Metropolis, Star City, to see what is left?”

Oliver held his breath for a moment. “Sometimes,” he admitted. “Do you?” 

“Yeah.” She admitted, “a lot.”

“Maybe we should think about it,” he murmured. 

“It might make it worse but...” she shrugged, “I don’t think Star City will be as bad as Metropolis and Smallville.”

“Probably not,” he agreed.

“Something we can do eventually, I guess.” She added, pursing her lips together and looking away. She wanted to go back to see if maybe she could at least find a picture of her cousin, something to keep her alive in her memories at least, but she didn’t think telling Oliver that would help him agree with doing this.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked softly, gazing at her even as she looked away from him.

Pursing her lips together, she shrugged, glancing back at him, “wondering what it’d be like going back. What it would feel like.”

Nodding slightly, he met her eyes, holding her gaze for a long moment before taking a deep breath. “Definitely something to plan on,” he murmured.

“Yeah,” she agreed, breathing out then watching him silently. She didn’t really want to lie to him, so it was better not to say anything.

He reached out silently and took her hand in his, sliding his fingers through hers and letting his eyes close. 

Chloe watched him for a moment then leaned closer, pressing her lips to his cheek before laying her head back down on the bed.

He smiled faintly, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. “Really glad you came with me this time,” he whispered.

“Me too,” she said quietly, looking down at their hands, “how are you doing?”

“I’m okay,” he assured her, opening his eyes to look at her once more.

“Okay,” she nodded a little, “do you want to rest some before dinner?”

“Do you?” Oliver rolled onto his side once more, still holding her hand.

“I’m okay.” she shrugged, “but you were closing your eyes, I figured you might be tired.”

“Nah. Just...relaxing,” he confessed. “We don’t get to do that very often.” 

“Yeah,” she breathed, smiling slightly, “I guess I’m not sure how to do that anymore.”

“I know,” he murmured, gazing at her. “I wish I knew how to help with that.” 

“You already help,” she admitted in a whisper.

His expression softened at that and he reached out, cupping her cheek gently in one hand. “Good,” he whispered back.

“I mean it, Ollie,” she said quietly. One of the things she had been trying to do to help him was show him how much he meant to her and how much he _had_ been helping her. Because people in their previous line of work needed to feel needed and it wasn’t fair to him for her to keep pushing him away when he was the one reason she was still functioning despite everything.

He leaned in, kissing her forehead gently and closing his eyes. “I’m glad. You help me, too. You know that, right?” 

“I doubt I’ve been much help lately,” she shrugged, watching him, “but I’m trying.”

“More than you know, Chloe,” he whispered, pulling back to gaze at her once more.

She held his gaze and lifted a hand to his cheek, brushing her thumb over it gently, “I know I’ve been keeping you at arm’s length, I’m trying not to do that anymore.”

“I know you are,” he whispered. “I’ve noticed the difference lately.” He was quiet for a moment, considering her. “Thank you.”

Her face softened and she smiled slightly then shook her head, “I should be thanking you. For everything.” She whispered, “even before the games, before I knew you were around... you were doing what you could to take care of us.”

Oliver held his breath, shifting a little closer to her and wrapping his arm around her silently.

She watched him for a moment, then, holding her breath, brushed her nose against his gently.

He smiled a little at her actions and then returned the light gesture.

“Thank you,” she murmured, smiling a little without pulling away.

He wasn’t entirely sure what she was thanking him for, so he simply nodded, kissing her cheek lightly. “Anytime.” 

Hesitantly, she turned her head and kissed the corner of his mouth, closing her eyes as she did. She wasn’t sure this was a good idea, but having him close like this much more often had her thinking about kissing him again. And remembering the few kisses they had shared in the arena and after, for the public. So she wanted to see what it would be like to kiss him without cameras or eyes on them. And she also knew that when Lois told her to go live her life, she was talking about a life that included him, because Lois knew her better than anyone else.

Oliver held his breath when he felt her lips on the corner of his. He hesitantly returned the light pressure, his own eyes drifting shut, heart beginning to beat faster in his chest.

She relaxed slightly when he returned the half kiss, turning her head a little more to press her lips fully against his. Even after all this time, it still confused her if he had been telling the truth all along or if it had been all real, but now she was starting to believe him more.

He shifted so she wouldn’t have to strain her neck in order to kiss him, one hand still cupping her cheek as he slowly moved his mouth over hers, gentle, sweet kisses.

Chloe moved her hand from his face and wrapped her arm around him, shifting closer but keeping the kisses light. 

He smiled against her mouth after several moments, brushing his nose against hers once more and pulling away to gaze down at her. 

With a deep breath, she opened her eyes too, her stomach suddenly tighter when she looked back at him.

Oliver smiled softly at her and kissed her once more. “Why don’t I get started on dinner?” 

She held her breath and nodded slightly, her stomach in knots as she watched him. He wasn’t going to make a big deal out of this, so she knew she shouldn’t either. Better to just go with the flow.

“Want to help?” he asked, reluctantly climbing out of bed and standing up.

“Yeah,” she nodded a little, sitting up, “I’ll try not to burn anything.” 

He grinned at that, holding his hand out to her. “Come on, Gorgeous. I’ll turn you into Betty Crocker.” 

She smiled softly, watching how relaxed he looked all of the sudden, as she took his hand and followed him back to the kitchen, “I don’t think even you are that good, Ollie.”

“You might just be surprised.” He winked at her, leading her down the hall. At least that was the plan.


	12. Chapter 12

Oliver gripped Chloe’s hand in his own, squeezing it gently as they made their way up to where the Mayor of the district was waiting to talk to them before the speech-giving would begin. He glanced at her sideways as they walked. “Nervous?” 

“We both know I’m not saying a word,” she said, arching her eyebrows even as her hand tightened around him. Public speaking wasn’t really a problem for her, but face the people who knew everything she had done wasn’t exactly comforting.

“I know. Sometimes it’s not the speaking part that’s nerve-wracking,” he pointed out quietly.

“I’ll be okay,” she assured him as they stepped inside the mayor’s house, in front of the district's square.

“I know you will,” he said, nodding as he reached out and knocked on the doorway.

Chloe looked up at him then over at the door as it opened. 

“Mr. Queen.” The mayor greeted with a smile then stilled when he stared at Chloe, “and Miss Sullivan, I didn’t know you would be coming!” He said surprised.

He gave her hand a gentle squeeze and smiled at the mayor, nodding in greeting at the man. “Thank you for inviting us.” 

“It’s a pleasure to have you, both of you,” he said, “come on in.” 

“Thank you,” Chloe said quietly, smiling at the man.

Nodding once more, Oliver followed him inside his house, Chloe at his side. He glanced around the house, noting how similar it was to the one they were staying in here in the district. “This is a nice home you have.” 

“Thank you,” he nodded, “it’s nothing like the Capitol, but we’re rebuilding, thanks to you two.” He smiled. 

Chloe squeezed Oliver’s hand, “for what we’ve seen, the District looks great.”

“You guys are doing great,” he agreed, glancing at Chloe sideways and smiling softly. “And we really appreciate the accommodations you’ve made for us here.” 

“We wanted to make sure you could see the best of our district.” The Mayor said, “we have it thanks to the two of you.” 

Chloe smiled a little then looked around once more. She was definitely not expecting this.

Oliver smiled softly as he gazed at Chloe, noting her reaction and giving her hand a light squeeze.

“They are waiting for you,” the Mayor said, stopping in front of the double doors that led to a balcony, “are you ready, Mr. Queen?”

He drew in a breath and nodded a little. “Yeah. I’m ready.” 

“Excuse me,” the Mayor said, stepping outside ahead of them, for a brief introduction. 

Chloe took a deep breath too and squeezed Oliver’s hand then glanced up at him.

“Ready?” he asked quietly, raising his eyebrows.

“Yeah,” she nodded, straightening, “you?”

He nodded a little once more, looking over when the Mayor said his name. “Let’s go.” He stepped out onto the balcony, lifting his hand in a wave.

She stepped behind him, holding her breath when the cheering became even louder when she came out from behind him. Hesitantly, she lifted her free hand and waved too.

The cheering grew even louder as everyone lifted their hands to wave back at her.

Chloe held her breath, looking up at Oliver, her eyes a little wide. She felt as shocked by the reaction as she had before the games, when they walked together in the victors introduction.

He couldn’t help but smile at the surprise on her face, and he leaned over, kissing her forehead lightly.

She smiled and relaxed slightly, nodding and squeezing his hand tightly as she stepped forward with him as the mayor made wait for Oliver to start his speech.

* * *

The speech had gone well, Chloe had managed to say thank you, but not much else. She was still shocked by the time they made it back to the house, the mayor himself had walked them back, so they hadn’t had a chance to talk yet. But watching Oliver talk, live this time, had reminded her just why she had always wanted _him_ to step up. Not Clark. Because he was absolutely amazing.

“Well, that was pretty incredible,” he said, grinning as he stepped into the house behind her, shutting the door.

“Yeah,” she agreed quietly, taking a deep breath, “went better than I imagined.”

“They loved you,” he said, stepping closer to her once more.

“Us,” she told him, her hand still wrapped around his, she hadn’t let go of it since they got to the Mayor’s house.

He smiled faintly, nodding at her correction. “Us,” he agreed quietly. 

“Thank you,” she whispered, looking up at him.

He cocked his head to the side. “For what?” 

“Agreeing to all of this, stepping up,” she looked down, “despite everything that was going on.”

Oliver was quiet for a moment, then he reached up, gently cupping her cheek in his hand. “You asked me to.” 

Pursing her lips together, she nodded slightly then watched him for a second, “and you said no. When we were at 13.” She said. She didn’t necessarily want to bring this up now, but she had been wanting to ask him why for the past couple of weeks now. Since she started to allow him closer and since she started to feel a little less like a zombie.

He held his breath at that, dropping his gaze from hers as guilt swept over him. “I know.” 

“I’m sure you had your reasons,” she said, taking a step forward, “I’m just trying to understand what happened.”

Oliver rubbed a hand over his face, reluctantly letting go of her hand to do so. “He was gonna come after you. And Clark.” 

“To get to you?” She asked even if it was suddenly very clear.

He nodded wordlessly, raking a hand through his hair.

Chloe let out a breath and shook her head, “I knew you were going to be his first target. Why didn’t you tell me, Ollie? We could have just left.”

“Because there wasn’t anything that was going to stop Lex from coming after me, and it didn’t matter where I went,” he said quietly. 

She disagreed. If they had worked on it together, they would have probably gotten to Lex sooner, but she just shook her head slightly, “I guess it doesn’t matter.”

“Yes, it does,” he said softly, not looking up at her. “And I’m sorry I screwed up.” 

Shaking her head, she stepped even closer, “I know you were trying to protect us. That’s what you had been doing all along.”

“Yeah, but it didn’t really work, did it?” He tried to smile, but didn’t quite manage it.

“It worked in the arena,” she looked down, “and Lois wasn’t your fault.”

His chest tightened painfully at the mention of Lois. “That was all Tess. It wasn’t your fault either.” 

“Like I said, it doesn’t matter.” She whispered, “I just wanted to know if you really had changed your mind.”

He was quiet for a few seconds, then he reached out, gathering her into his arms and pulling her close to him. “No. I was just trying to keep everyone safe from Lex,” he murmured.

She wrapped her arms around him instantly, holding him close and nodded, “that’s what I thought.” She murmured.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, tangling a hand in her hair gently. 

“Don’t be,” she turned her head, pressing her nose against his jaw, “you’re still here.”

Oliver swallowed hard, turning his head, as well, so their foreheads were pressed together. 

Chloe held his gaze then brushed her nose against his, “and I don’t know where I would be if you weren’t.” She murmured.

“I love you,” he whispered, unable to stop himself from saying the words. “I don’t want to scare you away and I know that you don’t feel the same, and I’m okay with that. You’ll always have me.” 

Her face fell but her arms tightened around him, she shook her head a little. He was wrong. And it still scared her, but he was wrong. So even though she couldn’t say it back yet, she pressed her lips firmly to him, pulling him as close as she could.

He kissed her back without hesitation, slowly deepening the kiss, surprised when she actually let him. The hand that had been tangled in her hair moved to cup the back of her neck gently, thumb lightly brushing up and down her skin.

She shivered slightly at the touch, shifting her arms and wrapping them around his neck instead of his back as she tiptoed without breaking the kiss. If this was the only way for her to tell him how she felt for now, it would have to do.

* * * 

Oliver’s head rested against the train’s window pane as he stared out at the passing scenery rushing by them. Almost an hour ago, Chloe had fallen asleep beside him, her head resting on his shoulder. He glanced at her, smiling a little at the way her hair fell across her cheek, then turning to look out the window once more. They’d spent nearly two full weeks in District 7, and he’d actually enjoyed the time away. He wasn’t sure if it was because of how hospitable the people in the district had been, or if it was because he and Chloe had been there alone. Either way, she seemed to be more relaxed than she had been before they’d gone to the district.

With a deep breath, she stretched a little and turned her neck slightly, turning a little more toward him.

Oliver glanced at her once more, then shifted so she wouldn’t have to crane her neck so much.

She opened her eyes and glanced up at him, “did we arrive?” She asked sleepily, glancing at the window.

“Not yet,” he said softly. “Go back to sleep.” 

Shaking her head, she lifted it and rubbed a hand over her face, “I didn’t mean to fall asleep on you.”

He smiled. “It’s fine. You just didn’t look that comfortable.” 

“My neck does hurt a little,” she shifted, “your fault for being so tall.”

He chuckled. “I’ll try and shrink a few inches, just for you,” he teased.

She shifted and wrapped her arm around him, nodding, “thank you.”

“Welcome.” He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. 

“How much longer?” She asked, leaning her head against his arm again.

“About forty minutes.” He shifted a little.

“Oh.” She straightened again, falling back asleep was probably not a good idea, “when is your next trip again?”

“About three weeks.” He glanced down at her once more. “Wanna come with?” His voice grew softer.

“Do you want me to?” She asked, cocking her head a little.

“Yeah, I do,” he admitted.

“Okay,” she nodded, pursing her lips together as she looked up at him. “I just don’t want you to think you have to worry about entertaining me during all your district trips.”

He gave her a look. “Entertain you?” he echoed dubiously.

She rolled her eyes a little and shrugged, “you know what I mean, Ollie.”

His lips quirked upwards involuntarily. “Maybe I want you to come along so you can entertain me.” 

“Then your entertainment options must be really bad,” she said, smiling a little.

“No, I just prefer your company over anyone else’s.” He winked.

Her face softened and she nodded a little, “ditto.”

Oliver gazed at her for a moment, then dipped his head, kissing her lightly on the mouth. “Good to know,” he whispered.

She watched him for a moment then kissed him once more, nodding slightly.

He lifted a hand to cup her cheek, stroking his thumb lightly over her skin.

Chloe leaned into his touch and smiled a little, watching him, “sorry I pushed you away for so long.”

“It’s okay,” he said quietly, brushing his nose over hers.

She leaned in and kissed him once more, “and sorry I didn’t believe you.”

“Do you now?” He gazed at her, his eyes filled with warmth.

Chloe nodded slightly, her chest tightening as she held his gaze.

He smiled, kissing her once more, gently, his eyes drifting shut.

She kissed him back, more firmly this time as she sat up a little more to kiss him better.

Oliver returned the kiss without hesitation, his hand moving to tangle gently in her hair.

Lifting a hand to the back of his neck, she shifted a little closer to him, her heart beating faster against her chest. They hadn’t done much more than kiss in the time they were together on 7. Between everything they went through, she knew they could use the comfort. But she also knew they both had needs they had been ignoring for a long time and this wouldn’t be enough for much longer.

He groaned softly against her mouth, then began to trail kisses down her jaw to her neck, gently tugging her head backwards just a little to get better access to her skin. 

She shivered, keeping her eyes closed as she slid her fingers through his hair and wrapped her other arm around him.

He smiled at her shiver, nibbling gently against her skin and then kissing the same spot. “You’re so beautiful,” he murmured.

She turned her head, kissing his temple and pulling him closer as she closed her eyes tightly. “I love you,” she whispered so quietly, he wouldn’t have heard her if he had been a little further away. 

Oliver held his breath, pulling away just enough to look at her, not sure if he’d heard her or if he’d simply imagined it. “What?” he whispered.

She blinked, looking up at him, her heart beating fast and her eyes wide, “I love you,” she repeated, more than a little scared of saying the words. Even if she knew she shouldn’t be, that he had told her this several times in the past and had apparently been whispering it to her when he thought she was asleep, she couldn’t help feeling exposed.

“I love you, too,” he murmured, shaking his head a little. “So much, Chloe.” He leaned his forehead against his.

“I know,” she breathed, feeling a little relieved as she held his gaze, “I know.” 

Oliver kissed her once more, chest feeling warm as the reality of her words began to sink in. She loved him. 

Even as she kissed him back, she pulled him closer, her hand rubbing over his back gently. She was just relieved she hadn’t been too late to believe him or tell him. Even if she didn’t understand how she could have gotten so lucky when it came to him.


End file.
